Moving-entity detection

ABSTRACT

A stepped-frequency radar signal is transmitted through a barrier. A transmitter of the stepped-frequency radar is on a first side of the barrier, a first object is on a second side of the barrier, and a second object that is distinct from the first object is on the second side of the barrier. A signal including a reflection of the transmitted signal from the first object and a reflection of the transmitted signal from the second object is sensed. The sensed signal is analyzed to determine that a first detection is associated with the first object and a second detection is associated with a second object.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 61/287,981, titled MOVING-ENTITY DETECTION, and filed on Dec. 18,2009, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This description relates to detecting moving entities, such as detectingthe presence of a moving person concealed behind a wall in a building.

BACKGROUND

Detection sensors may be used to determine the presence of objects whenvisual recognition is difficult.

SUMMARY

In one general aspect, a method includes transmitting astepped-frequency radar signal through a barrier, where a transmitter ofthe stepped-frequency radar is on a first side of the barrier, a firstobject is on a second side of the barrier, and a second object that isdistinct from the first object is on the second side of the barrier;sensing a signal including a reflection of the transmitted signal fromthe first object and a reflection of the transmitted signal from thesecond object; and analyzing the sensed signal to determine that a firstdetection is associated with the first object and a second detection isassociated with a second object.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Thebarrier may be a wall of a building, and the first object and the secondobject are in an interior of the building. The first detection and thesecond detection may be identified in the sensed signal. The firstdetection associated with the first object may include multipledetections, and the second detection associated with the second objectmay include multiple detections. The first detection and the seconddetection may be displayed. A visual representation of the firstdetection and the second detection may be produced. It may be determinedthat the first detection is associated with the first object and thesecond detection is associated with the second object by applying fuzzyc-means clustering to the multiple detections of the first detection andthe multiple detections of the second detection. The first detection mayinclude multiple detections and the second detection may includemultiple detections, and determining that the first detection isassociated with the first object and the second detection is associatedwith the second object may include determining, from the sensed signal,at least one parameter for each of the multiple detections of the firstdetection and the second detection, the parameter being one or more of arange value, a Doppler value, or an angle of arrival, comparing thedetermined parameter of one of the multiple detections to the determinedparameter of another of the multiple detections, and determining thatthe one of the multiple detections and the other of the multipledetections are both associated with the first object based on thecomparison.

In some implementations, the stepped-frequency radar signal may betransmitted through the barrier at a first time, and a secondstepped-frequency radar signal may be transmitted through the barrier ata second time, a second signal including a second reflection of thetransmitted signal from the first object and a reflection of thetransmitted signal from the second object may be sensed, and the secondsensed signal may be analyzed to determine that a third detection isassociated with the first object and that a fourth detection isassociated with the second object. A first track that approximates themotion of the first object relative to the transmitter may be determinedbased on the first detection and the third detection, and a second trackthat approximates the motion of the second object relative to thetransmitter may be determined based on the second detection and thefourth detection. A fifth detection may be received, and at least oneparameter of the fifth detection may be compared to at least onedetection associated with the first track, and whether the fifthdetection is associated with the first track may be determined based onthe comparison. At least one parameter of the fifth detection may beanalyzed, prior to the comparison, to determine whether the fifthdetection is a candidate for association with the first track, and itmay be determined whether the fifth detection is associated with thefirst track only when the fifth detection is a candidate forassociation. It may be determined whether the fifth detection is acandidate for association may include determining whether the parameterof the fifth detection is within a preset range of values. The firstobject may include a person, and the motion of the person arises from aportion of the person moving relative to the transmitter between thefirst time and the second time due to breathing of the person. Theposition of the first object relative to the transmitter may bedifferent at the second time than at the first time due to one or moreof the motion of the first object from a first position within aninterior region defined by the barrier to a second position within theinterior region or motion of the transmitter.

In another general aspect, a method includes generating a representationof a space that includes a barrier that defines an interior region andan object in the interior region; determining a parameter that definesreflections of a radar signal that propagates through the barrier andinto the interior region and irradiates portions of the barrier and theobject; accessing a parameter of a candidate detection of the object;comparing the parameter that defines the reflections of the radar signalto a parameter of the candidate detection; and classifying the candidatedetection as an actual detection or a false alarm based on thecomparison.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Thecandidate detection may be presented only when the candidate detectionis classified as an actual detection. A track that approximates a motionof an object may be accessed, the candidate detection may be determinedto be associated with the track, and it may be determined that thecandidate detection is an actual detection based on the association. Thepotential target may be presented only when the candidate detection isclassified as an actual target.

In some implementations, when the parameter that defines the reflectionsof the radar signal is substantially equal to the parameter of thecandidate detection the candidate detection is classified as a falsealarm. The parameter that defines the reflections of the radar signalmay include one or more of an angle of arrival of the reflection, arange of the reflection, and a Doppler of the reflection, and theparameter of the candidate detection may include one or more of an angleof arrival of the candidate detection, a range of the candidatedetection, and a Doppler of the candidate detection.

In another general aspect, a device includes a transceiver configured toreceive and transmit multiple radar signals, each radar signalassociated with a frequency, through a barrier and into a region definedby the barrier; and a processor coupled to an electronic storage, theelectronic storage storing instructions that, when executed, cause theprocessor to perform operations including sensing a signal including areflection of the transmitted signals from a first object in the regionand a reflection of the transmitted signals from a second object in theregion; and analyzing the sensed signal to determine that a firstdetection is associated with the first object and a second detection isassociated with a second object.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Thedevice may include an interface configured to provide the firstdetection and the second detection to a remote system.

In another general aspect, a system includes a sensor system, aprocessing system, and a display. The sensor system includes atransceiver configured to receive and transmit multiple radar signals,each signal associated with a frequency through a barrier and into aregion defined by the barrier. The processing is in communication withthe sensor system, and the processing system includes a processorcoupled to an electronic storage, the electronic storage storinginstructions that, when executed, cause the processor to performoperations including sensing a signal including a reflection of thetransmitted signals from a first object in the region and a reflectionof the transmitted signals from a second object in the region; andanalyzing the sensed signal to determine that a first detection isassociated with the first object and a second detection is associatedwith a second object. The display is configured to visually present thefirst and second detections.

In another general aspect, a method includes transmitting a firststepped-frequency radar signal through a barrier, where a transmitter ofthe stepped-frequency radar is on a first side of the barrier; sensing afirst signal including a reflection of the first transmitted signal fromthe object; analyzing the first sensed signal to identify a firstdetection of the object; transmitting a second stepped-frequency radarsignal through the barrier; sensing a second signal including areflection of the second transmitted signal from an object located on asecond side of the barrier; analyzing the second sensed signal toidentify a second detection of the object; forming a trackrepresentative of a motion of the object through a region defined by theboundary based on the first detection and the second detection;transmitting a third stepped-frequency radar signal through the barrier;sensing a third signal from the region; analyzing the third signal toidentify a candidate detection; comparing a parameter of the candidatedetection to a parameter of at least one of the first and seconddetections; determining, based on the comparison, whether the candidatedetection is a false alarm or an actual detection; and if the candidatedetection is a false alarm, presenting the first and second detectionswithout the candidate detection, and if the candidate detection is anactual detection, presenting the first and second detections with thecandidate detection.

Implementations of the techniques discussed above may include a methodor process, a system or apparatus, or computer software on acomputer-accessible medium.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating use of a scanning device for detectingmoving entities.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram of a stepped-frequency scanning deviceconfigured to detect moving entities.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are perspective views of an antenna design for thedevice of FIG. 1B.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an example conversion circuit in a scanningdevice.

FIG. 4A is a flow chart of an example of a process to detect movingentities using a transmitted stepped-frequency signal with a scanningdevice.

FIG. 4B is a flow chart of an example of a process to detect movingentities including altering transmitted waveforms used by a scanningdevice.

FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating use of interferometric measurementwith a scanning device.

FIG. 5B is a flow chart of an example of a process to detect movingentities using interferometric measurement with a scanning device.

FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating use of multi-static motion detectionwith a scanning device.

FIG. 6B is a flow chart of an example of a process to detect movingentities using multi-static motion detection with a scanning device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating use of transceivers to conductinterferometric measurement and multi-static motion detection with ascanning device.

FIG. 8A is a diagram illustrating use of synthetic aperture radarimaging with a scanning device.

FIG. 8B is a flow chart of an example of a process to detect movingentities using synthetic aperture radar imaging with a scanning device.

FIG. 9A is a flow chart of an example of a process to analyze dataassociated with frequency and phase shifts generated by a scanningdevice.

FIG. 9B is a flow chart of an example of a process to canceltransmit-to-receive leakage signal with a scanning device.

FIG. 9C is a flow chart of an example of a process to compensate formotion occurring during operation of a scanning device.

FIG. 9D is a flow chart of an example of a process to compensate formotion occurring during operation of a scanning device using adaptiveprocessing.

FIG. 10A is a picture of a handheld stepped-frequency scanning devicerelative to a semi-automatic weapon ammo pouch.

FIG. 10B is a picture of a handheld stepped-frequency scanning device ina case.

FIG. 11A is a picture illustrating battery access in a handheldstepped-frequency scanning device.

FIG. 11B is a graph illustrating power discharge characteristics in ahandheld stepped-frequency scanning device.

FIG. 12A is a picture illustrating recessed light emitting diodes in ahandheld stepped-frequency scanning device.

FIG. 12B is a picture illustrating operational controls of a handheldstepped-frequency scanning device.

FIGS. 13A-13C are example diagrams illustrating use of a scanning devicein distinguishing between walls and moving objects.

FIGS. 13D-13E are example diagrams illustrating use of a scanning devicein distinguishing between direct and indirect reflections from movingobjects.

FIG. 13F is a flow chart of an example of a process to distinguishbetween direct and indirect reflections from moving objects.

FIGS. 14A-14C are diagrams illustrating example use of a scanning deviceto determine the existence of moving objects from a cluster ofreflections.

FIG. 14D is a flow chart of an example of a process to determine theexistence of moving objects from a cluster of reflections.

FIGS. 15A-15C are diagrams illustrating example use of a scanning deviceto predict motion of a moving object.

FIG. 15D is a flow chart of an example of a process to predict motion ofa moving object.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart of an example of a process to identify, trackand classify multiple objects.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a system for identifying, tracking, andclassifying multiple objects.

FIG. 18 is an illustration of a space observed by the WPPDS.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example range-Doppler map for thetargets in FIG. 18.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart of an example process to detect multipleobjects.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of tracking multipletargets over time.

FIG. 22 is a flow chart of an example process for tracking multipletargets over time.

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a reflection for an object between twowalls and additional multipath reflections.

FIG. 24 is a flow chart of an example process for classifying acandidate detection.

FIG. 25 is a flow chart of an example process for detecting motion of adetected object.

FIGS. 26A-26D is an example of a visual presentation shown to anoperator.

FIG. 27 is a block diagram of a detection system.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to detect the presence of entities through movement when visualdetection is blocked (e.g., by a wall), a device, such as a handheldscanner, includes a stepped-frequency radar transmitter. The transmitteremits a radar based signal that includes different frequencies. Theemitted signal strikes objects and is partially reflected. The reflectedsignal may be affected by environmental characteristics (e.g., movementof an object or entity or distance to the object or entity). Forexample, if an object is moving closer to the device, signals reflectedfrom the object will exhibit a frequency shift (for example, a Dopplershift) that may be observed and processed by the device. Also, thedistance a signal travels before or after being partially reflectedaffects the phase of the reflected signal at the receiver.

Various processing methodologies and hardware configurations can be usedby the device to analyze characteristics of reflected signal for usefulinformation. For example, processing information received from multiplereceives can be used to determine a location in two or three spatialdimensions of detected movement. Also, detecting differing rates ofmovement may require separate processing algorithms and/or separatecharacteristics of the transmitted signal. For example, in oneimplementation, a shorter duration (e.g., a few seconds) of signaltransmission at a set of frequencies may be transmitted to detect fastmoving objects, such as an individual running while a longer duration(e.g., less than 10 seconds) signal transmission may be employed todetect slower moving objects, such as the chest cavity of an individualbreathing.

The device may be used to aid in military or search and rescue missions.For example, soldiers may use the device to detect the presence ofunknown individuals that may be hiding behind walls. A soldier mayactivate the device while aiming the transmitter such that the signal ispointed at a closed door. The signal may penetrate walls and doors, andpartially reflect when striking an individual (e.g., an enemy soldier).The reflected portion of the signal may exhibit a frequency shiftdetectable by the device at multiple receivers. The device receives andprocesses the reflected signal from the receivers, and may determine apresence in three spatial dimensions of one or more entities. Also, thedevice may be used to detect the presence of individuals buried in pilesof rubble based on subtle movement, such as breathing.

FIG. 1A shows a diagram 100 illustrating use of a scanning device fordetecting moving entities. In the diagram 100, a user 105 holds anactivated handheld stepped-frequency sensor device 110, which transmitsstepped-frequency radar signals.

As shown, the device 110 includes several forward looking antennas 114and a backward looking antenna 116 (shown as arrows). This configurationis one example, various implementations of the device 110 and itsarrangement of antennas are discussed in FIGS. 5A-7. Also, a singletransmitted signal from the device 110 is described for simplicity,although multiple signals can be transmitted as discussed in FIGS. 6A-7.The device 110 may differentiate between signals received from theforward looking antennas 114 and those received from the backwardlooking antenna 116 to determine information associated with thelocation of detected movement (e.g., whether the movement occurs infront of or behind the device).

In the diagram 100, the device 110 has been operated to transmit asignal either with one of more of the antennas as transceivers or with aseparate transmitter. The signal (not shown) propagates outwards,strikes objects, and is reflected as a reflected or partially reflectedsignal 115A, 120A, 125A, 130A, and 135A. As received by the device 110,the reflected signal exhibits a frequency shift proportional to themagnitude of the object's movement towards or away from the device.

In particular, the signal may penetrate a wall 118 and be partiallyreflected by a running individual 115, a sitting individual 120, aspinning ceiling fan 125, and a stationary chair 130 on the oppositeside of the wall. The signal also is partially reflected by a nearbystationary chair 135 that is on the same side of the wall 118 as theuser 105. The signal 120A reflected by the sitting individual 120exhibits a small frequency shift due to the breathing movement of theindividual's chest cavity. The signal 115A reflected by the runningindividual 115 exhibits a larger frequency shift than the partiallyreflected signal 120A from the sitting individual 120, with thisfrequency shift being due to the more pronounced movement of the body ofthe running individual 115. The signal 125A reflected by the spinningceiling fan 125 exhibits a frequency shift that is characteristic of arepeated mechanical movement. The signals 130A and 135A that arereflected by the stationary chair 130 and the nearby stationary chair135 exhibit no frequency shift.

The device 110 receives and processes the frequency and phaseinformation from the partially-reflected signals 115A, 120A, 125A, 130A,and 135A. The signals may be received using a single antenna or usingforward and backward looking antennas. In an initial scan function, thedevice 110 may calibrate against data associated withpartially-reflected signals that exhibit no frequency shift 130A and135A or that exhibit only a frequency shift due to mechanically repeatedmovement 125. The processed data indicates movement reflective of bothbreathing and running. In some implementations, the device 110 providesindications of detected moving objects by lighting separate lights orproviding other types of visual indicators. In other implementations,the device 110 can provide the results of the scan on a display screen119 along with various information determined by processing.

In this example, the device uses three forward looking antennas todetermine the location of objects in three spatial dimensions (asdiscussed in FIGS. 5A-5B) and provides a visual display of the relativelocation of two detected moving objects. Although reflected signal fromthe running individual 115, the sitting individual 120, the spinningceiling fan 125, and the stationary chairs 130 and 135 have allindicated the existence of objects, only two are shown on the displayscreen 119. Using processing techniques discussed below, the device 110has removed the fully stationary objects (e.g., the chairs 130 and 135)and the objects exhibiting characteristics of repetitious mechanicalmovement (e.g., spinning ceiling fan 125) from consideration. Also,processing techniques of the device 110 have determined the sittingindividual 120 to be exhibiting movement indicative of a stationaryperson (e.g., only subtle breathing movement) and the running individual115 to be exhibiting movement indicative of an active person. Therefore,of the detected objects, only the two individuals are represented on thedisplay screen 119.

The significance of the movement and its location in space relative tothe device are shown. Specifically, the running individual 115 isrepresented on the display screen with a larger, more pronouncedindication 119 a to signify the significant level of movement whereasthe sitting individual 120 is represented on the display screen with asmaller, less pronounced indication 119 b to signify the lesssignificant movement. Other implementations may show (or include optionsto show) all detected objects or a subset thereof (e.g., show objectswith repeated mechanical movement, show stationary objects, show anyobject detected that is between a detected moving object and the device110).

FIG. 1B is a block diagram of a stepped-frequency scanning device 150configured to detect moving entities. Although discussed in terms of adevice, the elements can be used as a system or apparatus of commonlylocated or separated elements. The device 150 includes antennas 155 and160 for transmitting and receiving a stepped-frequency radio frequencysignal (an “RF signal”) to detect moving entities. The device 150 isshown as a bistatic radar, in that there are separate antennas fortransmitting and receiving the RF signal. In particular, a transmitantenna 155 is connected to a radar transmitter and transmits an RFsignal toward a target, and a receive antenna 160 is connected to aradar receiver and receives a portion of the RF signal that is reflectedby the target. In other implementations, the device 150 may be amonostatic radar that uses a single antenna as a transceiver to bothtransmit and receive the RF signal. Also, various implementations mayuse multiple transmit antennas 155 and/or multiple receiving antennas160.

The transmit antenna 155 is connected to a radar transmitter 165 thattransmits an RF signal toward a target. Implementations using more thanone concurrent transmission (discussed below) may use one or moretransmit antennas 155 which can be coupled to either a singleshared/multiplexed radar transmitter 165 or multiple dedicated radartransmitters 165. The transmitted RF signal can include frequencies thatcover a bandwidth in increments of frequency steps. For example, thesignal may include a nominal frequency operating with a center frequencyin the UHF, L, S or X bands.

The receive antenna 160 is connected to a radar receiver 170 andreceives the reflected RF signal from the target. For simplicity, thereceive antenna 160 is discussed in terms of the implementationincluding a single antenna. Nevertheless, the receive antenna 160 mayrepresent two or more antennas as shown by the forward looking antennas114 of FIG. 1A. Implementations employing multiple antennas may eachhave a dedicated receiver which is shared or otherwise multiplexed, ormay include multiple dedicated receivers.

The receiver 170 is coupled to a signal processor 175 that processesreceived RF signals from the receiving antenna 160. The signal processor175 is coupled to a display 180 and a timing and control module 185. Thedisplay 180 provides audible and/or visual information or alerts ofobjects detected by the device, such as those described with the displayscreen 119 of FIG. 1A. The timing and control module 185 may beconnected to the transmitter 165, the receiver 170, the signal processor175, and the display 180. The timing and control module providessignals, such as a clock signal and control signals, to the othercomponents of the device 150. Implementations may employ detectionprocesses for slow or fast movement that run in real-time on an embeddedprocessor. Implementations also may employ interference detectionprocesses.

The signal processor 175 can include an interferometer/interferometerprocessing. The interferometer can process received signal to enablelocation of entities or targets within a given environment. Theinterferometer also can provide simultaneous stationary object mappingcapability. In particular, the interferometer may receive channelsignals, use a low-pass filter to provide stationary object mapping, anduse a high-pass filter for moving target angle estimation.

The device 150 also includes a motion sensor 190 which may include aninternal inertial sensor and/or global positioning system (GPS) sensoror other location sensors. Detection of moving and/or breathing targetsduring handheld and/or on-the-move operation of the device 150 issupported through use of the motion sensor's measurement and resultingcompensation during processing. In various implementations, an inertialmeasurement sensor, with or without the use of a global positioningsensor, can be incorporated with the motion sensor 190 to provide sensormotion measurement, thereby supporting motion compensation processing tofactor out device 150 motion (as discussed below). Alternatively, or inconjunction, adaptive processing of the radar return can be used by themotion sensor 190 and/or the signal processor 175 to estimate the sensormotion independent of measurements by the motions sensor 190. Suchadaptive processing can be employed by using the phase change ofstationary scattering present in the scene to estimate the sensormotion.

FIG. 2A illustrates an antenna design 200 employed in one implementationof the device of FIG. 1B. The design 200 employs separate transmit andreceive antennas 205 and 210 to simplify the electronics, providespatial separation and reduce very shallow reflections. The antennas 205and 210, which may serve as particular implementations of the antennas114 and 116 of FIG. 1B, may be placed in a housing 215, and a cover 220may be placed over the antennas. The cover 220 may be made of a suitableradome material.

FIG. 2B further illustrates aspects of the design 200 discussed abovewith respect to FIG. 2A. Although the following discussion refers to thereceive antenna 210, it is equally applicable to transmit antenna 205 orother antennas. As shown, the design 200 employs a spiral antenna as thereceive antenna 210 to permit significant size reduction. For an antennato be an efficient radiator, it must normally have a dimension of atleast one-half wavelength. The spiral radiates efficiently when it hasan outer circumference of at least one wavelength. This means that theantenna needs a maximum diameter of about one-third wavelength. Theupper frequency limit for efficient spiral radiation is set by the sizeof the feed point attachments, and the lower frequency limit is set bythe outer diameter of the spiral structure. Within these limits, thespiral radiates efficiently in a frequency-independent manner. The inputimpedance and the radiation patterns may vary little over this frequencyrange.

The receive antenna 210 may be constructed by etching a spiral patternon a printed circuit board. A planar, printed circuit, spiral antennaradiates perpendicularly to the plane of the spiral. The spiral 225itself is located at the end of a cylindrical metal cavity 230 (thecavity back) to provide isolation from neighboring elements andelectronics. Typically, an absorber 235 is used on the back side of thespiral inside the cavity 230 to make sure the element responds onlyforward.

The previous description provides an example implementation of anantenna design. Other implementations may include different antennas,such as an endfire waveguide antenna. Such a configuration may beslightly larger than the spiral configuration. The endfire waveguideantenna reduces the measurement spot size, thus making a more preciseposition of a concealed object easier to locate. Other suitable types ofwideband antennas may also be used.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an example conversion circuit 300 in a scanningdevice. The circuit 300 can be used as portions of the transmitter 165and receiver 170 of FIG. 1B. Also, the circuit 300 includes a signalgenerator 310, a signal control 320, a transmission multiplexer 330, areceive multiplexer 340, and a mixer 350, which may be in the form of aquadrature demodulator. In the circuit 300, one or more transmissionsignals are generated and transmitted through one or more transmitantennas. Reflected portions of the transmitted signal are receivedthrough one or more receive antennas, which may optionally be the sameantennas as the one or more transmit antennas. The received signal andthe signal generated by the signal generator 310 are input to the mixer350, which outputs an in-phase signal and an out-of-phase (quadrature)signal.

Specifically, the signal generator 310 generates a signal to betransmitted by the one or more transmit antennas. The signal generator310 may include a phase lock loop synchronized by an oscillator. In oneimplementation, a temperature controlled crystal oscillator is used tosynchronize a voltage controlled oscillator. The signal generated by thesignal generator 310 may be input to a mixer 350 and to a signal control320. The signal control 320 may amplify or otherwise condition thesignal to enable transmission by the one or more transmit antennas. Thesignal control 320 inputs the signal to the one or more transmitantennas and to a transmission multiplexer 330. The signal control 320includes one or more signal outputs, each dedicated to one of the one ormore transmit antennas and coupled to the transmission multiplexer 330.The transmission multiplexer 330 enables sequential sampling of the oneor more signal outputs of the signal control 320 to provide feedback ofthe transmission signal to the mixer 350. The transmission multiplexer330 may function as a single pole double throw (SPDT) switch for each ofthe signal outputs of the signal control 320.

The one or more transmit antennas emit the transmission signal, whichencounters objects in the environment. Portions of the transmissionsignal may be reflected. The reflected portions, which may exhibit afrequency and phase shift, are received by the one or more receiveantennas. Each receive antenna inputs received signal to a receivemultiplexer 340. The receive multiplexer 340 enables sequentialsampling, by the mixer 350, of the signal received by each of the one ormore receive antennas. The receive multiplexer 340 may function as aSPDT switch for each of the signals received by the one or more receiveantennas.

Some implementations may use other mechanisms, such as a control system,in place of the transmission multiplexer 330 and the receive multiplexer340. In one implementation, the one or more receive antennas are inputdirectly to a mixer without a multiplexer.

The mixer 350 receives the signal from the signal generator 310 at afirst input. Based on the transmission multiplexer 330 and the receivemultiplexer 340, either the transmission signal or the received signalis provided to the mixer 350 at a second input. The mixer 350 convertsinput signals to a form that is more easily processed, such as, forexample, an in-phase and an out of phase component at a basebandfrequency. As shown, the mixer 350 is a quadrature demodulator, thoughother signal conversion systems may be used. The quadrature demodulatoroutputs “I” and “Q” data (referred to as IQ data) which can be sent toan analog-to-digital (A/D) converter. In some implementations, separateIQ data may be generated for each transmitted frequency.

The previous description is an example implementation of the transmitand receive circuit. Other implementations may include differentcomponents. For example, in various implementations, a single transmitantenna and a single receive antenna are each coupled to a switch ratherthan the transmission multiplexer 330 and the receive multiplexer 340.

FIG. 4A is a flow chart of an example of a process 400A to detect movingentities using a transmitted stepped-frequency signal with a scanningdevice. The process 400A may be implemented with the device 150 of FIG.1B or with other devices. Also, the process 400A may be implemented inconjunction with the processes described below.

The process 400A begins when a stepped-frequency signal is transmittedby a device (410A). The stepped-frequency signal may be an RF radarsignal including multiple frequencies and phases that are transmittedconcurrently or consecutively. In one implementation, each transmissionincludes cycling through a frequency band such that multiple frequenciesare transmitted. Specifically, while cycling through the band, eachfrequency is transmitted for a period of time, followed by the nextfrequency, until the bandwidth has been crossed. Although multiplefrequencies may be sent, one after another, the transmitted and receivedsignals are discussed here and elsewhere as a single signal to simplifydiscussion. After transmission, the signal strikes an object and ispartially reflected.

Some implementations use multiple concurrent transmission formulti-static motion detection. Specifically, the multiple transmissionsof the stepped frequency signal (410A) may include use of multipletransmit antennas simultaneously to form a multi-static radar. Thetransmit antennas may be located on a single device or across multipledevices. The combined measurements of signals can be received from themultiple transmissions by one or more receivers and can be used inprocessing to reduce interference and enhance detection of movement orlocation thereof. In some implementations, the transmit frequencies ofthe antennas are made different to avoid mutualtransmission-interference. Also, the antennas can be networked (on asingle device or between multiple devices) such that their transmittimes are coordinated and the subsequent pre-processed data from eachantenna can be processed in a central location. For implementationsusing multiple devices, the distances between antennas can be determinedthrough static location survey or by using position measurement sensors.

Also, randomized frequency ordering and wide bandwidth of thetransmissions may be utilized to disguise the coherent nature orminimize the effects of intentional or incidental jamming. For example,various implementations utilize a stepped-frequency pulse in whichcertain pulse frequencies are omitted in processing to screen out radiofrequency interference from surrounding incidental or intentionalsources. Also, a non-uniformly spaced, monotonically ordered,stepped-frequency waveform may be used. Further, a non-monotonicallyordered stepped-frequency waveform or a frequency-hopped tonal waveformalso may be used. The transmitted waveform frequency steps can betransmitted in an order dictated by a quadratic congruential sequence.Two or more antennas can be operated simultaneously using mutuallyorthogonal stepped-frequency transmit sequences, such as, for exampleBellegardia Sequences or Quadratic Congruences.

In addition, some implementations enhance the effective aperture of theradar by moving the transmitting antenna along a pre-determined ormotion-sensed line segment using a synthetic aperture radar (SAR)imaging operation mode. In particular, the stepped-frequency signal istransmitted by the device (410A) while the device is linearly moved. Theknown movement is combined with the received reflections and taken intoaccount during processing to form a SAR image. During such operation,information provided by a device's inertial measurement and/or locationsensors can be used to assist the user in providing a proper motion orby the processor in correcting for imperfections in the motion.

The device detects the reflected portion of the signal (420A). Thisdetection can be accomplished using a transceiver, a separate antenna,or multiple separate antennas (e.g., a forward looking and backwardlooking antennas or multiple forward looking antennas). In oneimplementation, a single transceiver transmits the stepped-frequencysignal and receives reflected portions therefrom. The detected signalincludes a frequency that may have been altered by movement of thestruck object and a phase that may be affected by the distance to theobject.

Other implementation use multiple antennas for detection to enable morespecific determination as to the location of an object (or entity).Using multiple antennas spaced at known distances and positioned toreceive signals in a similar direction can enable a more accurate two orthree dimensional identification of an entity. In particular, processingthe measurements from two or more antennas, separated in a horizontaldirection may be conducted to provide an estimate of azimuthangle-of-arrival. Moreover, elevation angle-of-arrival estimation may beprovided by processing measurements from two or more antennas that areseparated in a vertical direction. Simultaneous azimuth and elevationinterferometry can enable estimation of each target's location in threespatial dimensions. The device's existing receiver can be multiplexedbetween multiple receiving antennas and/or additional receivers can beadded to the device to receive the signals from multiple antennassimultaneously.

The device processes the reflected portions of the signal to generatedata associated with frequency and phase shifts (430A). The processing,for example, may identify information associated with frequency andphase shifts that may be indicative of the presence of moving objects orobjects at a distance. The processing may include a calibration step tocalibrate the data or processing steps based on conditions detected fora particular use of the device. Calibration may include removing oraltering parts of the signal indicative of clutter, repeated mechanicalmovement, signal leakage, or reflections near or behind the device.Processing may also include calibration of the analysis steps, such asintegration time.

To improve stationary object mapping and to reduce the subsequentdynamic range of the received signal data, leakage cancellation can beused in the calibration processing. Specifically, various components ofthe transmit-to-receive leakage signal can be adaptively located andremoved from the received signal. Such components can generally beorders of magnitude higher than the highest reflected signal. Theircancellation can provide a reduced dynamic range of the subsequentsignal data, and also can suppress the range sidelobes of the leakagesignal which otherwise may obscure lower amplitude stationary targets.

In some implementations, the device uses a motion and/or location sensorto calibrate information from the reflected portions of the signalduring or prior to processing. Specifically, motion or locationinformation can be used to support motion compensation processing tofactor out device motion. Also, adaptive processing of the radar returncan be used by the device to estimate device motion. Such adaptiveprocessing can be employed by using the phase change of stationaryscattering present in the scene to estimate the sensor motion.

The device analyzes the data to determine if the reflected portions ofthe signal are associated with moving objects or entities (440A). Theanalysis of the data (440A) may include use of a short-time FourierTransform to estimate the Doppler shift of the return signals as one ofmultiple Fourier Transformation integration times. In particular, theanalysis may include using a low-pass filter to provide data forstationary object mapping and using a high-pass filter to provide datafor moving target angle estimation. In various implementations, othertechniques may be used to accomplish this estimation. In particular,processing techniques such as Maximum Likelihood Method, Maximum EntropyMethod, or Music Method, may offer greater resolution for micro-Dopplerdetection using shorter observation times. Such methods can be used asparametric techniques to hypothesize a particular (often autoregressive)parametric signal model enabling greater resolution in the Dopplerdomain with shorter observation times.

Similarly methods such as Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) andHigher-order statistics based techniques (e.g., Bispectral Analysis) canalso be used to better resolve very closely spaced independent targetreturns than is possible with direct Fourier methods. These methods canbe considered in a tradeoff between greater computational cost than FastFourier Transform (FFT) methods versus improved resolution under certaincircumstances. Moreover, other methods that focus on reducing thecomputational cost relative to the FFT methods can be used to create thefrequency (Doppler) spectrum, such as, Discrete Cosine Transform, FastHartley Transform, and Walsh-Hadamard Transform. These methods mayemploy simpler basis functions for the orthogonal decomposition than themore complex exponentials in the FFT methods. Each of the abovedescribed processing techniques can be used in the analysis of the data(440A) and may be chosen depending on the specifics of the targetapplication and desired specialization for optimizing implementationcost versus needed detection resolution and sensitivity.

The process 400A can configure the transmitted waveform internalstructure, bandwidth extent, and duration to better match and revealcertain target characteristics and fine-grained structure. For example,the detection and identification of small movements of machinery (e.g.,clock mechanisms, slow speed rotating pumps) or human motions (e.g.,voluntary and involuntary facial movements and life sign processes suchas breathing, heart beat and blood flow within the arterial cavities)can be targeted by the analysis of the data (440A). These targets, whenre-examined with the properly designed transmitted waveform, can revealtheir nature in the form of very small displacements over time thatimpart micro-Doppler structure on the returned signals. For example, invarious implementations, movement of 50-70 microns and less can bedetected through adjustments to the transmit waveform characteristicsand receiver processing algorithm parameters.

Results of the analyzed data are then displayed (450A). In someimplementations, the results can be displayed using a series ofindicators or lights. For example, movement detected as significant(e.g., from a running individual) can result in activation of a firstlight while movement detected as less significant (e.g., from anindividual sitting and breathing) can result in activation of a secondlight. In other implementations, a display screen is used to illustratetwo or three dimension positions of movement with or without additionalinformation about the movement. For example, a visual display of therelative location of multiple detected moving objects can be shown aslocations on a three dimensional graph or representation of a space. Thesignificance or level of movement of the detected moving objects can beindicated by, for example, size, shape, color, or animation of theindications. Additionally, the device can derive information of the areausing information from the received reflections (e.g., derive existenceof stationary objects such as walls) or by loading preexisting data(e.g., load a geographical map of an area or representation of theoutlay of a building) and can populate the indications of detectedmovement upon the derived or loaded information.

Other information can be shown using the display screen. For example, insome implementations, the device is configured to determine the relativepositions of other devices. For example, the device can locate otherdevices by detecting a unique broadcast signature during transmission(e.g., a particular sequence of frequency steps) or by wireless networkcommunications. Also, individuals without a scanner may include other RFidentification tags that can be similarly located and identified. Thedevice can display the position of other located devices/individuals onthe display screen by rendering a unique indication. For example, suchlocated other devices/individuals can be displayed with a first colorindication while identified unknown moving objects can be displayed witha second color indication. This can enable a unit of soldiers to, forexample, identify whether a target in another room is likely anon-threat (e.g., a “friendly”) or a threat (e.g., a “hostile”).

Also, devices can be configured to share results of analysis with othernearby devices using wireless communication. From this sharedinformation, the device can display results computed from other devices.For example, if a first device determines there is a moving object 3meters in front of it that is likely a non-threat it can transmit thisdetermination to a second device. The second device receives thisinformation and determines the location of the non-threatening object.For example, the second device may first determine that the first deviceis located, for example, 4 meters left of the device. Thereafter, thesecond device determines that the non-threatening object is 5 metersdiagonally front and left of the device based on the first device'srelative location to the second device and the non-threatening object'srelative location to the first device, and renders an appropriateindication on the display screen.

The process 400A is an example implementation of a process to sensemoving entities using, for example, a stepped-frequency scanning device.Some implementations may include additional or alternative steps. Forexample, processing and analyzing the data (430A and 440A) may beconducted together.

FIG. 4B is a flow chart of an example of a process 400B to detect movingentities including altering transmitted waveforms used by a scanningdevice. The process 400B may be implemented with the device 150 of FIG.1B or other devices. The process 400B can be used along with or separatefrom the process 400A of FIG. 4A. By altering the transmitted waveform,a device may be able to compensate for the effects of noise orinterference, and may be able to avoid or overcome the presence ofsignal jamming.

Initially, it is determined that the transmission waveform should bealtered (410B). The determination may be made by a user or by thedevice. For example, in one implementation, the device includes an inputoption to randomize the waveform frequencies or to select alternativefrequency stepping. In particular, if a previous scan yields poorresults (e.g., the results seem incorrect to the user, such as excessivedetections), the user can activate a manual alteration input (e.g., abutton on the device). In response, the device is triggered to adjustthe transmission waveform used in subsequent transmission. Also, a usermay determine that alteration is needed prior to any transmission, suchas, if the user suspects that an identifiable transmission may result indirected jamming. By using a manual alteration input to preemptivelyrandomize the transmitted waveform, the coherent nature and widebandwidth of the subsequent transmissions can be disguised or minimized,possibly preventing detection or jamming.

In various implementations, the device is configured to determine thatthe transmission waveform should be altered (410B) without additionaluser input as a result of various conditions. For example, the devicecan be configured to trigger alteration of the transmission waveform inresponse to a determination of poor results during processing andanalysis of data, such as, if saturation or degraded performance isdetected (discussed below). In addition, the device can be configured todetermine that the transmission waveform should be altered (410B) inresponse to a determination that frequencies are jammed or otherwisehave high levels of interference. In one implementation, the devicedetects signals present prior to transmission (prior to eachtransmission or during device power on). If a frequency is found to beunavailable due to jamming or interference, the device alters thewaveform to remove frequency steps in or near the unavailable frequency.

The device proceeds to alter the transmission waveform (420B). Thealtering may include removing specific frequencies, changing the steppattern of the frequency steps, randomizing frequency steps, orotherwise generating a non-uniformly spaced, monotonically orderedstepped-frequency waveform. The altering may include accessing a storedtransmission waveform of a series of discrete stepped-frequencies fortransmission, altering one or more of the discrete stepped-frequenciesor order thereof, and storing the altered transmission waveform inpermanent or temporary storage (e.g., random access memory) for useduring subsequent transmission.

Thereafter, the altered waveform is transmitted by the device as astepped-frequency signal (430B). The frequency steps of the alteredwaveform can be transmitted in an order dictated by a quadraticcongruential sequence. Also, in some implementations, two or moretransmit antennas can be operated simultaneously using mutuallyorthogonal stepped-frequency transmit sequences, such as, for exampleBellegardia Sequences or Quadratic Congruences. Reflected portions ofthe signal are detected and used to detect objects (440B). Multiplereceiving antennas can be used. The reflected portions of the signal canbe processed to generate data associated with frequency and phaseshifts, analyzed, and used to display results using, for example, thetechniques described above with respect to elements 430A-450A of FIG.4A.

FIG. 5A is a diagram 500A illustrating use of interferometricmeasurement with a scanning device 502A and FIG. 5B is a flow chart ofan example of a process 500B to detect moving entities usinginterferometric measurement with the device 502A. The description ofFIGS. 5A and 5B is directed to the use of multiple receiving antennas.By using multiple receiving antennas, the determined location of movingobjects can be of greater specificity. For example, while a singlereceiving antenna generally enables determination of a linear distancebetween the device 502A and the object, using three receiving antennascan enable determination of a location in three spatial dimensionsrelative to the device 502A. The device 502A may be implemented as apart of the device 150 of FIG. 1B or other devices. The process 500B canbe used along with or separate from the process 400A of FIG. 4A.

Initially, the device 502A transmits a stepped-frequency signal (510B).The signal may be a stepped-frequency signal transmitted using a singletransmit antenna 505A. The signal propagates outward from the device502A and reaches a moving object 540A, where it is partially reflected.The reflected portions of the signal propagate back to the device 502Awith a frequency change proportional to the magnitude with which themoving object was moving towards or away from the device 502A. As thereflected portions of the signal propagate, the phase changes withposition while frequency remains constant. The reflected portions of thesignal propagate past each of the first, second, and third receivingantennas 510A-530A.

The reflected portions of the signal are detected by the first receivingantenna 510A of the device 502A (520B). The first receiving antenna 510Ais at a first location, and the reflected portions of the signal exhibita first phase relative to the first location. The reflected portions ofthe signal are also detected by the second receiving antenna 520A of thedevice 502A (530B). The second receiving antenna 520A is at a secondlocation which is spaced from the first location. The reflected portionsof the signal are further detected by the third receiving antenna 530Aof the device 502A (540B). The third receiving antenna 530A is at athird location which is spaced from the first and/or second locations.

In one implementation, the first and second receiving antennas 510A and520A are separated along a first axis (e.g., horizontally) to create afirst interferometric pair and the third receiving antenna 530A isseparated from the first and/or second receiving antennas 510A and 520Aalong a second axis which is perpendicular to the first axis (e.g.,vertically) to create a second interferometric pair. In addition, theback lobe of a rear facing antenna (not shown) can be used inconjunction with the first and second interferometric pairs which areforward looking in the diagram 500A to provide additionalinterferometric measurement capability to increase accuracy of angle ofarrival estimation. Different implementations can place the receivingantennas 510A-530A differently, such that they are separated by multipledimensions. Although discussed as three separate occurrences forsimplicity, the detections (520B-540B) can be conducted nearlysimultaneously (i.e., detection can be temporally separated only by thetime of propagation by the reflected signal).

The reflected portions are processed to generate data associated withfrequency and phase shifts (550B) using, for example, the techniquesdescribed above with respect to element 430A of FIG. 4A. The processeddata is analyzed to determine location information of moving objects(560B). In the analysis, the spatial locations of the receiving antennas510A-530A and the phase of the reflected portions as measured by thereceiving antennas 510A-530A are taken into account to determine thephysical position of the moving object 540A relative to the device 502A.

In particular, the device 502A uses the phase differences betweenreflected portions of the signal as received by the first and secondreceiving antennas 510A and 520A and the known physical locations of thefirst and second receiving antennas 510A and 520A (e.g., in thisimplementation, separated horizontally) to determine the azimuthangle-of-arrival of the reflected portions of the signal. Also, thedevice 502A processes the phase differences between reflected portionsof the signal as received by the second and third receiving antennas520A and 530A and the known physical locations of the second and thirdreceiving antennas 520A and 530A (e.g., in this implementation,separated vertically) to determine the elevation angle-of-arrival. Thedevice 502A uses azimuth and elevation interferometry of the data todetermine the physical location of the moving object 540A in threespatial dimensions.

Finally, the device 502A displays a multidimensional representationindicating the determined location information of the moving object 540A(570B) using, for example, the techniques described above with respectto element 450A of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 6A is a diagram 600A illustrating use of multi-static motiondetection with a scanning device 602A and FIG. 6B is a flow chart of anexample of a process 600B to detect moving entities using multi-staticmotion detection with the device 602A. The description of FIGS. 6A and6B is directed to the use of multiple signal transmissions. By usingmultiple transmissions, more precise identification of movement andlocation thereof can be provided. Moreover, the multiple transmissionscan protect against degraded results due to jamming, interference, ornoise. Additionally, some implementations conduct the transmissions in asequence to enable faster refreshing of a display screen. The device602A may be implemented as a part of the device 150 of FIG. 1B or otherdevices. The process 600B can be used along with or separate from theprocess 400A of FIG. 4A.

As shown in the diagram 600A, the three transmit antennas 610A-630A arepart of a single device 602A. In one implementation, the transmissionsoccur on a single shared transmit antenna (not shown) to minimize devicesize and required components. The use of dedicated transmit antennas,however, can reduce circuit complexity and lower issues of interference.Moreover, for implementations employing interferometric measurement andthe use of transceivers as shown in FIG. 7, separate antennas may beneeded for receipt of signals, and therefore may be utilized forseparate transmission as well.

Initially, first, second, third transmit antennas 610A-630A are used totransmit three signals. Specifically, a first stepped-frequency signalis transmitted with the first transmit antenna 610A (610B), a secondstepped-frequency signal is transmitted with the second transmit antenna(620B), and a third stepped-frequency signal is transmitted with thethird transmit antenna (630B). The transmissions of the three signals(610B-630B) can be conducted concurrently or spaced in time. Also, thethree transmit antennas 610A-630A can each be a transmit antenna ofseparate devices, rather than from a single device 602A (as shown).

In some implementations, the transmissions of the three signals(610B-630B) are all conducted concurrently. In these implementations,the transmit frequencies are made to be different to minimizeinterference and to facilitate distinguishing between the reflectedportions of the signals. For each concurrent transmission, the transmitantennas 610A-630A can each transmit a particular frequency within apredetermined series of frequency steps. Thereafter, each transmitantenna concurrently transmits the next respective frequency of theseries. For example, if the frequency series consisted of frequenciesF₁, F₂, and F₃, the first transmission may be: F₁ for the first transmitantenna 610A, F₂ for the second transmit antenna 620A, and F₃ for thethird transmit antenna 630A. The next transmission can follow as F₂ forthe first transmit antenna 610A, F₃ for the second transmit antenna620A, and F₁ for the third transmit antenna 630A. The physicalseparation for the three transmit antennas 610A-630A can be used duringsubsequent processing and/or analysis to account for difference inpropagation distance of signals.

If multiple devices are used for transmission, a particular device canbe used to control transmission, detection, and processing. The devicescan be networked together (using line or wireless communication) tocontrol flow of information and commands. Specifically, a first deviceof the multiple devices can direct other devices when and what frequencyto transmit, similar to how the device 602A directs the three transmitantennas 610A-630A. The first device can also detect reflected portionsof each signal and conduct processing and analysis of the signaltransmitted by each of the multiple devices. Also, the first device canreceive position information of the other devices to be used duringprocessing and analysis. Results of the processing can be communicatedfrom the first device to each of the other devices, enabling the user ofeach device to perceive the results.

Reflected portions of the first, second, and third signal are detectedusing a receiving antenna 605A (640B) and the reflected portions areprocessed to generate data associated with frequency and phase shifts,using, for example, the techniques described above with respect toelements 420A and 430A of FIG. 4A. As reflected portions of multiplesignals of different frequencies may be concurrently received on thesame antenna, the signal received by the receiving antenna 605A can befiltered to separately extract the reflected portion of eachtransmission. For example, in the first transmission in the exampleabove, the signal received by the receiving antenna 605A is filteredwith an appropriate filter to extract signals near each of frequenciesF₁, F₂, and F₃. In one implementation, the signal received by thereceiving antenna 605A is sent to a number of filters equivalent to thenumber of transmission (in this example, 3 filters), where each filterextracts signal near a particular frequency. In implementations directedto one-at-a-time transmissions, the signal received by the receivingantenna 605A is sent to a single adjustable filter which is adjusted toextract signals near a particular frequency according to the transmittedfrequency.

The processed data is analyzed to determine location information ofmoving objects (660B). If multiple transmit antennas are used (as shownin the diagram 600A), the device 602A takes into account the knowndistance between the transmit antennas to account for differentpropagation distances of transmitted signals.

Implementations directed to concurrent transmissions can enable thedetermination of more precise identification of movement and itslocation. Using, for example, three transmissions can provide threeseparate data snapshots of a given scene. These snapshots may each havesome differences due to signal noise, unwanted reflection, leakage, orother interference. By averaging the three data sets, the effect of suchinterference is reduced. Also, targeted or general signal jamming may bepresent on one, but not all, transmitted frequencies, resulting in verypoor data. The device can selectively discard data from one or moretransmitted frequencies. Therefore, the use of multi-static motiondetection may overcome some effects of jamming.

Also, some implementations directed to one-at-a-time transmission enablea more rapid refreshing of data. In some implementations, the timerequired to complete the process 400A of FIG. 4A can be too large toupdate a user of a quickly changing situation. By using multipletransmissions spaced in time according to the length of time required tocomplete the process 400A, data presented to the user can be updatedmore often. If, for example, the process 400A requires one half of asecond to complete and three separate transmissions are spaced at a halfsecond, data can be refreshed at approximately 6 hertz (depending onprocessing speed and other parameters, the time required to complete theprocess 400A may be significantly different than one half of a second).

One-at-a-time refers to the start of transmission and does not precludethe possibility of an overlap between an ending of a first transmissionand the start of a second transmission. Also, the order of the elementsof process 600B can be different than shown in FIG. 6B. For example,reflected portions of the first signal can be detected using thereceiving antenna 605A prior to the transmission of the secondstepped-frequency signal with the second transmit antenna 620A.

Finally, the device 602A displays a multidimensional representationindicating the determined location information of the moving object 640A(670B) using, for example, the techniques described above with respectto element 450A of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 7 is a diagram 700 illustrating use of transceivers to conductinterferometric measurement and multi-static motion detection with ascanning device. The device 702 may be implemented as a part of thedevice 150 of FIG. 1B or other devices. The device 702 includes first,second, and third transceivers 710-730. Each transceiver is configuredto both transmit and receive stepped-frequency signals and is spacedfrom the other transceivers. Therefore, the device 702 is able toconduct multi-static motion detection as described in FIG. 6B of amoving object 740 through transmission by the transceivers 710-730 andto conduct interferometric measurement as described in FIG. 5B of themoving object 740 through signal receipt by the transceivers 710-730.For simplicity, the diagram 700 illustrates the deflected signals butnot the three transmitted signals.

In some implementations, the device 702 may use a mix of transceiverswith transmit antennas or receive antennas. For example, a device 702configured to use interferometric measurement as described in FIG. 5Bwithout the need for multi-static motion detection may require threereceive antennas but only one transmit antenna. To minimize size, thedevice 702 can include a transceiver antenna used for all transmissionand as a first receive antenna and two spaced receive antennas used assecond and third receive antennas in interferometric analysis.

FIG. 8A is a diagram 800A illustrating use of SAR imaging with ascanning device 802A and FIG. 8B is a flow chart of an example of aprocess 800B to detect moving entities using SAR imaging with the device802A. SAR imaging artificially enhances the effective aperture of thereceiving antenna of a device. For example, if SAR data is properlyconstructed from moving the device a distance of a meter, the resultsdata can correspond to the results obtain from a device with a receivingantenna spanning a meter. The device 802A may be implemented as a partof the device 150 of FIG. 1B or other devices. The process 800B can beused along with or separate from the process 400A of FIG. 4A.

Initially, a SAR operation mode of the device 802A is activated (810B).The activation may be as a result of input by a user to the device 802Ato select one of multiple operation modes. For example, in oneimplementation, the device 802A includes an input option to specify thatSAR will be used. In response, the device 802A is triggered to adjustoperation according to the description below. In another implementation,SAR operation is the standard mode of the device 802A, and powering onthe device 802A activates SAR operation.

Transmission of a stepped-frequency signal begins at a first location810A (820B). The transmission can begin as a result of user input. Forexample, the user may activate an input option (the same input option oranother input option) to trigger the start of transmission. Also, thetransmission may be triggered based upon movement of the device 802Asuch as that detected from an internal motion sensor. In oneimplementation, activating the SAR operation mode (810B) initiatesdevice 802A monitoring of movement. When movement is deemed significant(e.g., motion of at least 100 millimeters is detected), transmission ofthe signal begins (820B). Therefore, when ready, the user can ready thedevice 802A for SAR operation and begin the scan by beginning the motionof the device (as described below).

The device 802A is moved from the first location 810A to a secondlocation 820A while transmitting the stepped-frequency signal (830B) andreflected portions of the signal are detected during movement of thedevice from the first location 810A to the second location 820A (840B).The movement can be a lateral movement created by the user to move thedevice 802A from the first location 810A to the second location 820A.During the movement, the device 802A receives reflected portions of thesignal. The reflected portions of the signal may be received and usedfor subsequent processing along with an indication of where or when thesignal was received. Specifically, the device 802A can use time inconjunction with an assumed movement rate or can use measurements froman internal motion sensor to determine the location of the movingantenna at the time reflected portions are detected.

Also, in some implementations, an internal motion sensor is used toprovide dynamic SAR scanning. Specifically, the device 802A uses thestart and stop of motion to trigger the start and end oftransmission/detection. Therefore, a user with ample room to obtain alarge aperture can move the device across a longer distance while a usernot able to move the device a full meter can nevertheless use space lessthan a meter to obtain some imaging improvement.

Thereafter, the reflected portions are processed to generate dataassociated with frequency and phase shifts (850B). The processing canuse techniques similar to those discussed in, for example, element 650Bof FIG. 6B. The reflected portions may be received and processed intodiscrete packets of data associated with frequency and phase shifts. Thepackets can be associated with a relative position in the movement.Implementations with an internal motion sensor can use motioninformation to trigger generation of packets at specific physicalintervals and record the location of each packet based on sensed motion.For example, in one implementation, a packet is recorded every halfwavelength (e.g., at approximately every 2.5 inches) across one foot oflateral device motion based upon internal motion sensing.Implementations not employing motion sensors can be configured to assumemovement of a particular speed for the purposes of packet locationdetermination, and the user can be trained to move the device 802A atapproximately the assumed speed.

The processed data is analyzed to determine location information ofmoving objects (860B) and a multidimensional representation indicatingthe determined location information is displayed (870B), using, forexample, the techniques described above with respect to elements 440Aand 450A of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 9A is a flow chart of an example of a process 900A to analyze dataassociated with frequency and phase shifts generated by a scanningdevice. In various implementations, the process 900A is carried out withthe device 150 of FIG. 1B and can be used to perform element 440A ofFIG. 4A, element 440B of FIG. 4B, element 560B of FIG. 5B, element 660Bof FIG. 6B, or element 860B of FIG. 8B. For brevity, however, theprocess 900A is described with respect to element 440A of FIG. 4A.

The process 900A receives processed IQ data that may be generated, forexample, by element 430A of FIG. 4A and with the circuit 300 of FIG. 3.As shown, the process 900A involves multiple signal processing paths,degraded performance processing (910A), overt movement processing(925A), and subtle movement processing (975A). For simplicity, thesignal processing paths are discussed separately, though the differenttypes of processing may be concurrently carried out on the same inputsignals. Also, paths shown are examples only. Other implementations mayconduct processing along a single path configured to process overt orsubtle movement. Each processing path may be associated with a specifictype of result displayed from the output generator (965A). In variousimplementations, in both overt movement processing (925A) and subtlemovement processing (975A), phase and/or frequency data for eachtransmitted frequency is first used to develop a current picture of anenvironment, and is then compared against further phase and frequencydata to determine differences.

The process 900A incorporates coherent integration gain and robustdetection algorithms, to provide enhanced range of movement detection,higher probability of detection (Pd), and a lower probability of falsealarm (Pfa). The process 900A begins when IQ data is input to beprocessed (905A). The input IQ data can be the output of the mixer 350of the circuit 300 of FIG. 3. In some implementations, the IQ data isgenerated using a single transmit antenna and a single receive antenna.In other implementations, the IQ data is generated using multipletransmit antennas for interferometric processing and/or multiple receiveantennas for multi-static processing. Accordingly, the process 900A canbe used to implement portions of the processes 500B of FIGS. 5B and 600Bof FIG. 6B.

In various implementations, the user inputs one or more commandsassociated with one or more of overt movement processing (925A), subtlemovement processing (975A), or both. For example, a user wishing totarget only subtly moving objects (e.g., the cardio-pulmonary functionof an individual sleeping or in a coma), may activate an input option totrigger the device to conduct subtle movement processing (975A) where itotherwise would not occur. In various implementations, a single commandmay be pressed, which may, depending on the reflected signal, triggerovert moving processing (925A), subtle movement processing (975A), orboth.

IQ data is input to a calibrator (935A) and to a saturation detector(915A). The saturation detector (915A) sends data to a degradedperformance detector (920A), which monitors for situations includingdetection of A/D converter saturations or unusually high signal levelsthat may arise from the transmitted signal reflecting off metal objectsburied within or behind walls, detection of significant increases in thenoise floor resulting from intentional or unintentional jamming, anddetection of significant signal energy across all range cells associatedwith excessive movement of the antenna. If such situations are detected,the degraded performance detector (920A) can determine that thetransmission waveform of subsequent transmission should be alteredaccording to element 410B of FIG. 4B. Also, data from the degradedperformance detector (920B) can be sent to the output generator (965A)to trigger a visual indication or an alert to specify the detection of adegraded signal. The alert may signify to the user that processingresults may be less reliable. Degraded performance processing (910A)need not interrupt other processing.

In overt movement processing (925A), the IQ data may first be sentthrough the calibrator (935A). Calibration can be used to minimize theeffects of non-ideal transceiver hardware, such as transmit-to-receivesignal leakage, unwanted device movement, interference, or other adverseeffects upon the IQ data or collection thereof. Target detectionperformance may be improved as a result of cleaner range and Dopplerprofiles. Calibration can provide for adjustment of the collection ofdata, by, for example triggering the determination that the transmissionwaveform of subsequent transmission should be altered according toelement 410B of FIG. 4B. Calibration can also provide for adjustment ofcollected data, to for example, compensate for direct-current (DC)offset errors, IQ gain and phase imbalance, and gain and phasefluctuation across frequency which may be caused, for example, bytransmit-to-receive signal leakage or unwanted device movement. Invarious implementations, calibration can be conducted at other positionswithin the process 900A. Hardware support for calibration can includeuse of an internal motion sensor and signal processor, solid state RFswitches in the receive and transmit antenna front end(s) that enablethe receiver input to be switched from the antenna to either resistiveload or to a reduced power sample of the transmit signal. Calibrateddata may be used in overt movement processing (925A) and subtle movementprocessing (975A).

The overt movement processing (925A) can be optimized for rapiddetection of moving personnel. Processing delays associated withfiltering and coherent integration can be short, enabling quickerdisplay/alert of indications of detected movement, for example, withinless than a second of the event in some implementations. The overtmovement processing (925A) can begin with the data output from thecalibrator (935A) input to the moving target indication (MTI) filter(940A) to eliminate or flag strong returns from stationary clutter, orreturns from objects within a proximity from the device (e.g., objectson the same side of a wall as the device). Flagged returns from the MTIfiler (940A) can be used by the output generator (965A) to identifyflagged objects accordingly. For example, in one implementation, objectsflagged as stationary are presented with a characteristic (e.g., a coloror uniquely shaped icon) which differs from objects not flagged asstationary and object flagged as likely repeated mechanical movement aresimilarly presented with a different characteristic. Each transmitfrequency may be processed by a separate filter having a bandpassresponse that passes signals from separate target velocities. Separatefilters may enable detection of short duration movements from the armsand legs of stationary personnel as well as the detection of the mainbody movement, such as walking and running.

The data output from the MTI filter (940A) is input to the high rangeresolution (HRR) processor (945A). In one implementation, the HRRprocess (645A) uses an inverse fast fourier transform (IFFT) totransform the ensemble of returns from the received signal to HRRprofiles. In other implementations, other transforms may be used.Depending on the characteristics of the results, the HRR process (945A)results may be input to the degraded performance detector (920) as wellas the Doppler processor (950A). The Doppler processor (950A) mayprovide additional coherent integration gain to further improve thesignal-to-noise ratio. A region detector (955A) then selects a Dopplerbin with amplitude regions from range resolution cells.

The region amplitudes are passed on to a Range constant false alarm rateprocessor (CFAR) (960A). The Range CFAR (960A) is a cell-averagingconstant false alarm rate (CA-CFAR) detector and operates along the HRRrange cells output from the region detector (955A). The range cells arecompared to the surrounding cells. A detection may be sent to the outputgenerator (965A) if calculated parameters of the cell under test aregreater than a predetermined amount.

Subtle movement processing (975A) is optimized for detection ofstationary personnel, such as individuals whose only significantmovement is that caused by respiratory and/or cardiac function. Subtlemovement processing (915A) includes the calibrator (935A), the HRRprocessor (945A) and the Doppler processor (950A), but with longerintegration times. A longer integration time provides fractional-hertzDoppler resolution to resolve the carrier modulation sidebandsassociated with breathing. The HRR processor (945A) can be used directlyon the calibrated radar data, bypassing the MTI filters that mayotherwise remove the respiration sidebands.

In subtle movement processing (975A), the output of the Dopplerprocessor (950A) is sent to a Doppler CFAR processor (980A). The DopplerCFAR processor (980A) may be applied across the Doppler processor (950A)output to identify portions of the spectrum that are significantly abovethe noise floor. Values selected by the Doppler CFAR processor (980A)may be input to the spectrum variance estimator (985A) where thepower-weighted second-moment of the spectrum is determined. If thecalculated spectrum variance is within limits typical of respiration,the output generator (965A) may declare detection of subtle movement.

The output generator (965A) receives the results of the analysis of theIQ data from one or more of the overt movement processing (925A), subtlemovement processing (975A), and the degraded performance processing(910A). For example, IQ data may be analyzed according to eachprocessing path, generating multiple sets of results. The outputgenerator (965A) may give priority, such that, if the same object isidentified as overt and subtle movement, the output generator (965A)considers the object overtly moving. The output generator (965A) mayperform additional clean-up of the detection map, including, forexample, removal of detections beyond a range, and encoding thedetection as either near or far. In some implementations, the outputgenerator (965A) constructs a graphic user interface (GUI) to render theresults for display to the user. The GUI can show a two or threedimensional representation of the detected objects as described withrespect to the display screen 119 of FIG. 1 and/or element 450A of FIG.4A.

The output generator (965A) can output results of signal processing to aSAR processor (990A). The SAR processor (990A) is used as a feedbackloop in implementing portions of the process 800B of FIG. 8B.Specifically, the SAR processor (990A) receives the output of the outputgenerator (965A) and outputs SAR processing data as further IQ data forsubsequent processing using the process 900A to provide a radar imagewith a synthetic aperture.

The above process 900A is an example and other processing techniquescould be used along with or separate from elements of the process 900A.For example, alternate techniques discussed in FIG. 4A, such as MaximumLikelihood Method, Maximum Entropy Method, or Music Method, may offergreater resolution for micro-Doppler detection using shorter observationtimes. Also, methods such as Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) andHigher-order statistics based techniques (e.g., Bispectral Analysis) canalso be used to better resolve very closely spaced independent targetreturns than is possible with direct Fourier methods. Further, othermethods that focus on reducing the computational cost relative to theFFT methods can be used to create the frequency (Doppler) spectrum, suchas, Discrete Cosine Transform, Fast Hartley Transform, andWalsh-Hadamard Transform.

FIG. 9B is a flow chart of an example of a process 900B to canceltransmit-to-receive leakage signal with a scanning device. Thisprocessing approach can be used to adaptively locate and remove variouscomponents of the transmit-to-receive leakage signal, which generallyare orders of magnitude higher in amplitude then the highest reflectedportions of signal intended to be detected. This cancellation can reducethe dynamic range of the signal data and also can suppress the rangesidelobes of the leakage signal which otherwise may obscurelower-amplitude stationary targets. A reduction of dynamic range canallow for increased magnification of data for better separation betweennoise and targets without generating significant artifacts that wouldotherwise be generated by the increased magnification. The process 900Bmay be implemented as a part of the process 900A of FIG. 9A and/or theprocess 400A of FIG. 4A. For example, the process 900B can be used aspart of the calibrator (935A) in FIG. 9A. Also, the process 900B may beperformed using the device 150 of FIG. 1B or other devices.

The device begins stepped-frequency signal transmission and monitors fortransmit-to-receive leakage signal (910B). The monitoring may beginconcurrently with the transmission or just before or after thetransmission. In one implementation, the monitoring begins prior totransmission. Thereafter, the change in received signals is used todetermine the presence of transmit-to-receive leakage signal accordingto the techniques described below.

From the monitoring, a transmit-to-receive leakage signal is identified(920B). The identification can be based upon various characteristics insignal received by one or more receive antennas that are indicative oftransmit-to-receive leakage. For example, due to the proximity of thereceive antennas to the transmit antennas, transmit-to-receive leakagesignal can be the strongest received signal within a short delay fromtransmission. Specifically, transmit-to-receive leakage can occur ateffectively zero distance from the device. Therefore, signal reflectedfrom locations within a short distance (e.g., less than one foot) can beidentified as transmit-to-receive leakage (920B).

Amplitude can also be used to identify transmit-to-receive leakagesignal. In particular, transmit-to-receive leakage signal can dominatethe dynamic range with an atypically high amplitude (e.g., severalorders of magnitude greater than the highest amplitude reflectedsignal). This effect is a result of the differing paths of signals.Specifically, because the transmit-to-receive leakage signal often isfrom a direct path and signals reflected from moving objects often movethrough an attenuating medium (e.g., a wall) there can be a significantdifference in amplitude between transmit-to-receive leakage signal andsignal reflected from moving objects.

Another characteristic that can be used to identify transmit-to-receiveleakage signal is phase change. Generally, transmit-to-receive leakagesignal exhibits no Doppler shift. The lack of a Doppler shift is becausetransmit-to-receive leakage signal is reflected from the device andreceived at the device. Therefore, the transmission location and receivelocation have no difference in net movement so long as they aremechanically connected.

A cancellation waveform configured to remove the effects of theidentified transmit-to-receive leakage signal is generated (930B). Thecancellation waveform is configured to offset the effect, therebyeffectively removing the identified transmit-to-receive leakage signal.In particular, a signal profile which is the inverse of the profile ofthe identified transmit-to-receive leakage signal can be created. Thiscancellation waveform can effectively zero out the transmit-to-receiveleakage signal.

These techniques can be applied iteratively to maximize the reduction ofinterference caused by transmit-to-receive leakage. For example, aftergenerating the cancellation waveform, the device determines whetherthere is additional transmit-to-receive leakage signal (940B). If thereis additional transmit-to-receive leakage, the process 900B identifiesand generates a cancellation waveform to remove effects of theadditional transmit-to-receive leakage signal (920B and 930B). Theiteration can be used to fine-tune the removal of a particular signalleakage path or to remove signal from multiple leakage paths. Forexample, signal from a separate leakage path may travel further beforereaching the receive antenna and may not have the same amplitude ordelay. Multiple cancellation waveforms can be generated, or a singlecancellation waveform can be adjusted with each iteration.

The one or more cancellation waveforms are applied to remove the effectsof transmit-to-receive leakage signal of subsequent transmissions(950B). For example, the cancellation waveform can reflect the signalprofile of the identified transmit-to-receive leakage signal and may bestored in memory and used during calibration processing of later data toeffectively remove subsequently occurring transmit-to-receive leakagesignal. In various implementations, the one or more cancellationwaveforms are applied to all subsequent transmission while the device ispowered on. In other implementations, the process 900B is repeated atfixed intervals of time or upon detection of poor data, such as, forexample, by the saturation detector (915A) or the degraded performancedetector (920A) of FIG. 9A. Thereafter, data associated with frequencyand phase shifts of the subsequent transmission is processed, theprocessed data is analyzed, and results of analyzed data are displayed(960B-980B) using, for example, the techniques described above withrespect to elements 430A-450A of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 9C is a flow chart of an example of a process 900C to compensatefor motion occurring during operation of a scanning device. Thisprocessing approach can be used to enable the operation of the devicewhile it is being moved intentionally or unintentionally. Specifically,input from a motion sensor is used to facilitate the adjustment of datato offset the effect of device movement. The process 900C may beimplemented as a part of the process 900A of FIG. 9A and/or the process400A of FIG. 4A. For example, the process 900C can be used as part ofthe calibrator (935A) in FIG. 9A. Also, the process 900C may beperformed using the device 150 of FIG. 1B or other devices.

The device begins stepped-frequency signal transmission (910C) andreflected portions of the signal and accompanying motion data aredetected (920C). Device movement can contribute to or otherwise alterthe phase change of the reflected portions created by the movement ofthe reflecting object. Specifically, if the device is moving towards astationary object (e.g., due to unintentional device movement), thereflected portion of the signal can exhibit a Doppler shift similar towhat would be exhibited if, instead, the object had been moving towardsthe stationary device. The movement information enables adjustment forphase changes resulting from this device movement. In variousimplementations, as reflected portions of the signal are received andsent for processing, the device receives movement information from aninternal inertial sensor. In other implementations, the device uses aGPS sensor to derive device movement alone or in conjunction with aninternal inertial sensor.

The reflected portions are processed with the movement information fromthe internal motion sensor to generate data adjusted for device motionand associated with frequency and phase shifts (930C). In one example,processing includes generating a packet of data for received reflectionsof each frequency step of a sequence of frequency steps in thetransmitted stepped-frequency signal and associating motion informationwith each packet. In particular, if an internal inertia sensor is used,the output of the sensor can be sampled once for each packet todetermine acceleration of each of three axes. This accelerationinformation can be accumulative and can be integrated across multiplepackets for determination of velocity and direction of movement. Fromthe determination of velocity and direction of movement, the generateddata can be adjusted to reverse the Doppler effect resulting from themotion of the device with respect to the detected reflections. Also, ifa GPS sensor is used, the position as determined by the sensor can besampled once for each packet. This position information can be used todetermine velocity and direction of movement by comparing previousposition information.

The processed data is analyzed (940C). The motion determined by themotion sensor can be used during analysis to compensate or offset theperceived Doppler shift (and thus the perceived motion) of an objectdetected by the device. Thereafter, results of analyzed data aredisplayed (950C) using, for example, the techniques described above withrespect to element 450A of FIG. 4A.

Alternatively or in conjunction, adaptive processing of the radar returncan be used by the motion sensor 190 and/or the signal processor 175 toestimate the sensor motion. The latter approach can be employed toutilize the phase change of stationary scattering present in the sceneto estimate the sensor motion.

FIG. 9D is a flow chart of an example of a process 900D to compensatefor motion occurring during operation of a scanning device usingadaptive processing. This processing approach can be used to enable theoperation of the device while it is being moved intentionally orunintentionally without the use of a motion sensor. Specifically, thedevice analyzes data for the appearance of movement of stationaryobjects and uses the apparent movement to derive and compensate for theactual movement of the device. The process 900D may be implemented as apart of the process 900A of FIG. 9A and/or the process 400A of FIG. 4A.For example, the process 900D can be used as part of the calibrator(935A) in FIG. 9A. Also, the process 900D may be performed using thedevice 150 of FIG. 1B or other devices. Finally, the process 900D can beused in conjunction with an internal motion sensor as described in theprocess 900C of FIG. 9C to further minimize the effects of devicemotion.

The device transmits a stepped-frequency signal and detects reflectedportions of the signal (910D). The reflected portions are processed togenerate data associated with frequency and phase shifts (920D). Asdiscussed above, the phase of reflected portions of the signal mayexhibit a Doppler shift based on the relative movement of the objecttowards or away from the device. If the device is moving towards astationary object, the reflected portion of the signal can exhibit aDoppler shift similar to what would be exhibited if, instead, the objecthad been moving towards the stationary device.

The device identifies a phase change of reflections from stationaryobjects or scattering (930D). In one implementation, the identificationof the phase change can be based upon perceiving newly occurringmovement (or a phase change indicative thereof) from a reflection from apreviously stationary object. For example, the device can identifynon-moving objects or objects of repeated mechanical movement and storethe identification in memory. Thereafter, the device can compare thestored identification of the prior identified stationary object with theobject's apparent movement during a subsequent transmission. From thiscomparison, the device can identify a phase change of reflections fromstationary objects or scattering (930D).

Also, in various implementations, the device can identify the phasechange by analyzing a commonality in the data of reflected portions ofthe signal last transmitted. Specifically, the device can look forconsistent movement or a pattern of movement of scattering or objectswhich reflect the transmission. For example, if the majority ofreflected portions of the signal indicate movement (i.e., exhibit aphase change), the device can determine that the phase change of thereflected portions of the signal is a phase change of stationaryobjects. Finally, some implementations use a combination of the twoapproaches described above. For example, the device can first determineif there is common movement for a current set of objects, and, if so,compare the prior and current movement of specific objects to identifythe phase change of reflections from stationary objects (930D).

Next, the device derives device motion from the identified phase change(940D). Specifically, the device determines what motion of the devicewould produce the identified phase change of the stationary objects. Forexample, in some implementations which generate a packet of data forreceived reflections of each frequency step, an adjustment is associatedwith each packet indicating the derived motion. The derived motion canbe both a velocity and direction. To derive both velocity and direction,the device may process the perceived motion towards and away frommultiple objects of different physical locations. This may includeinterferometric processing techniques to determine movement of thedevice in three spatial dimensions.

Thereafter, the processed data is adjusted according to the deriveddevice motion (950D). The adjustment can include altering frequency datato counteract the effect of the motion derived to have occurred for thedevice. Finally, the adjusted data is analyzed (960D) and results of theanalyzed adjusted data are displayed (970D) using, for example, thetechniques described above with respect to element 450A of FIG. 4A. Theadjustment may be conducted later in processing only for specificobjects of significance or may be conducted earlier in processing on thedata used to determine the existence of moving objects.

Also, a Kalman-based smoothing filter can be used in processingacceleration data to make the data more useful for motion compensationas discussed above. In addition, correcting for quadratic phase errorsintroduced by sensor motion and prevent defocused imagery.

FIGS. 10A-12B and the discussion below are directed to a set of specificimplementations of a scanning device referred to as a wall penetratingpersonnel detection sensors (WPPDS) and are provided as one possible setof implementations of a sensor for detecting moving entities asdescribed above.

In one implementation, a WPPDS employs a through-wall-detection radardevice to detect personnel. The device includes a light-weight (e.g., afew pounds or less), portable, dedicated through wall device fordetection through walls. Particular implementations of the WPPDS areconfigured to detect both moving and stationary (breathing) personneland can be useful in a variety of situations. For example, an individualburied under structural debris can be located with relative spatialposition or distance and angle, which may be critical to a life savingoperation. Also, in the case of hostage situations, the WPPDS may beused to determine the position of individuals from certain locations,which may dictate the rescue operation methodology.

A particular implementation employs an AN/PSS-14 mine detection radardevice in a miniaturized WPPDS unit that fits into a semi-automaticweapon (SAW) ammo pouch, and may operate for 180 twenty-second cyclesand otherwise remain on standby during a 16 hour period running on eightdisposable AA batteries. Other implementations use different batteries.For example, one implementation uses six CR123 type camera batteriesrather than eight AA batteries. The WPPDS may detect moving targetsthrough non-metallic materials (e.g., cement blocks, reinforcedconcrete, adobe, wallboard and plywood).

The WPPDS may employ coherent, stepped-frequency continuous wave (SFCW)radar that provides excellent through wall detection performance.Detection is realized through range-Doppler processing and filtering toisolate human motion.

In various implementations, data from a SFCW radar may be processed asan ensemble of fixed-frequency CW radars, allowing for the optimumdetection of the Doppler shift of a moving target over time via spectralanalysis. The stepped-frequency radar data may also be processed tocompress the bandwidth and obtain a high range resolution profile of thetarget. For example, the data may be processed to remove stationary orfixed time delay data, leaving the moving target data to be evaluated inboth the range and Doppler (velocity) dimensions. A coherentfrequency-stepped radar may have an advantageous signal gain whencomputing the range and Doppler values of moving targets. Pulse type orfrequency chirp type radars may not be able to achieve the sameintegrated signal gain as stepped-frequency radar, due to a non-coherentnature.

Another property of a SFCW radar is the ability to operate inenvironments that exhibit high radio frequency interference (RFI). Shortpulse and frequency chirp radar devices maintain a wider instantaneousreceive bandwidth, enabling more RFI into a processing electronics chainand reducing the signal to noise/interference level, which may reducesensitivity and may degrade detection performance.

In one implementation, the SFCW radar device enables detection of subtleand overt movement through walls. The SFCW radar device can useprocesses that operate on hardware that is generally commerciallyavailable. The architecture of the SFCW radar device generally is lesssusceptible to jamming (intentional or unintentional) than other radararchitectures. Additionally, the reduced bandwidth enablesimplementation of more highly integrated RF technology, resulting in areduction in device size, weight and DC power.

With respect to the antenna, the antenna elements can be miniaturized(scaled) versions of the AN/PSS-14 cavity-backed spiral design. Theminiaturized tactical antenna supports the selected frequency range (theupper end of the AN/PSS-14 operating range, which improves performanceagainst rebar) and packaging constraints.

The RF Electronics can generate the frequency-stepped radar waveform,amplify the signal for transmission, receive energy reflected offtargets using a low-noise front end, and generate coherent (in-phase andquadrature, or I & Q) signals used in the detection process. Thetransceiver electronics feature a reduced bandwidth, which enables asingle voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) implementation compared to amore complex two VCO design. Further device miniaturization can beachieved through implementation of a direct down-conversion (homodyne)receiver.

A brassboard homodyne receiver has shown that significantly increaseddetection range in through wall applications is achievable compared tothe phase-noise limited AN/PSS-14 super-heterodyne architecture. Thereduced bandwidth of the single-board TX/RX can provide sufficient rangeresolution capability to support detection and can avoid the NationalTelecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)/FederalCommunication Commission (FCC) restrictions associated with ultrawideband (UWB) radars. The transmit power, coupled with the gain of theantenna, can result in a low radiated power (approximately the same ascell phones), making the device safe for human exposure. Someimplementations use a super-heterodyne receiver with common transmit andreceive local oscillators and VCOs. The super-heterodyne implementationscan reduce phase noise as compared to the homodyne implementations.

The digital signal processor (DSP) hosts the motion detectionalgorithms. The WPPDS signal processing algorithm incorporates coherentintegration gain and robust detection algorithms, achieving superiorperformance with greater detection range, higher probability ofdetection (Pd), and lower probability of false alarm (Pfa). Particularimplementations may be used to scan through damp concrete blocks andrebar, so as to permit ready detection of moving personnel.

The device also can include power supply circuitry needed to convert 6Vbattery power for the electronics. Bottoms-up power consumptioncalculations show that a set of disposable AA alkaline batteries mayprovide 180 twenty-second operating cycles. The low power, compact,high-performance direct-conversion radar transceiver can be realizedthrough use of RF Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs) andthe RF integrated circuits available. An ultra-low phase noiseTemperature Compensated Crystal Oscillator (TCXO) housed in a miniaturesurface-mountable package can be used as a reference to a synthesizerchip with a VCO integrated on the chip. Loop response time and phasenoise can be achieved and optimized via an external loop filter,creating a stable, fast-locking signal source with low divider noise.

The signal source is then amplified by high-efficiency monolithicamplifiers with integrated active biasing circuitry and on-wafer DCblocking capacitors. This approach minimizes part count and currentconsumption. This low-noise VCO is also used in the demodulation of thereceived radar return, which provides considerable phase noisecancellation due the oscillator coherency. With much lower phase noiseriding on returned signals (including near-wall reflections), thereceiver sensitivity can be predominantly limited by thermal noise,enabling increased detection range compared to the AN/PSS-14 radarreceiver. This also enables an increase in transmit power for increasedrange.

The direct-conversion quadrature demodulator can include polyphasefilters and ensure quadrature accuracy across the entire bandwidth.Pre-amplification of the LO and integrated variable gain control of thedemodulated signal can allow for efficient use of circuit board realestate and provide the device with signal conditioning flexibility tomaximize signal dynamic range at the analog-to-digital (ADC) inputs.

The digital signal processor (DSP) is used to process IQ data from theradar transceiver to determine if objects are in motion and, if so, toalert the user. The DSP can have many features for power management,including dynamic frequency control, dynamic core voltage control, andthe capability of turning off unused sections of the IC. These powermanagement features make this DSP an excellent choice for batteryoperated WPPDSs. Operating the WPPDS at half the frequency and a corevoltage of 1V allows lowering of the power and can enable a programmableperformance upgrade for the future. A clock frequency is provided by theRF transceiver board via a Low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS)differential clock driver. This helps protect signal integrity andreduces electromagnetic interference (EMI) caused by the fast clock edgerates.

In various implementations of WPPDS, the design features 8 M bytes ofsynchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) for fast program accessand enough storage for 60 seconds of captured data per operating cycle.In addition, 4M bytes of flash memory are used for booting up the DSPand for non-volatile storage. A universal serial bus (USB) interface isused as a test port, and will only be powered up for debugging and datacollection. An ADC includes an 18 bit ADC that allows a 15 dB increasein signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to take advantage of the increaseddynamic range and sensitivity. Differential inputs improve common-modenoise cancellation, allowing for a more sensitive detector. The op-ampsare selected for low power, low noise performance as amplifiers andactive filters. A 16 bit DAC is used to cancel the DC offset from theincoming IQ signals from the RF Electronics. Serial communicationprotocol (SPI) is used to communicate with the ADC, digital-to-analogconverter (DAC), and RF phase-locked loop (PLL), which helps reduce I/Orequirements and EMI.

Referring to FIGS. 10A and 10B, the compact WPPDS package enablessingle-handed operation while providing robust protection for theintended application. The unit may also be attached to the forearm orupper arm via straps. FIG. 10A is a picture of a handheldstepped-frequency scanning device relative to a SAW ammo pouch. Thehousing layout is able to be configured with three circuit cardassemblies (CCA), which enables an optional integrated batteryrecharging circuit, such as a generally commercially availableintegrated battery recharging circuit. The miniature cavity-backedspiral antennas each contain a planar feed assembly that connectsdirectly to the RF CCA. The Digital CCA contains the DSP as well as thepower supply (PS) circuitry.

FIG. 10B is a picture of a handheld stepped-frequency scanning device ina case. The WPPDS unit and accessories can fit into a standard Pelican'case for storage and transportation. The packaging provides protectionagainst transportation shock and vibration, environmental protection,and facilitates safe storage and ease of handling while in daily use bysoldiers or rescuers. The case includes compartments for storing armstraps, extra batteries, and an optional vehicle-compatible batteryrecharger.

To deploy, the operator may hold the device by the straps or by thesides of the unit, affix the unit to either arm via the straps (forearmor upper arm), or mount the device to a pole or tripod (pole/tripod notprovided with unit). A standard video camera mount may be connected tothe bottom of the unit to facilitate mounting to a tripod or pole. Thehousing design also features raised stiffener ridges on the front thatmay facilitate temporary wall mounting using putty. Otherimplementations may not include the straps, enabling users to operatethe device without connecting it to their person.

The housing is made of impact-resistant ABS plastic to help provideprotection if the case is dropped or collides with hard objects that mayoccur during training exercises or during operation, such as on abattlefield or in a rescue operation. The external design of the housingincorporates human factor features to simplify operation in difficultenvironments. A rubber shield protects the front of the unit. Rubbergrip pads are also provided in four areas to facilitate slip-freehandheld operation. Multiple SCAN switches support a variety ofoperational situations.

FIG. 11A is a picture illustrating battery access in a handheldstepped-frequency scanning device. The battery holder assembly featuresall eight batteries in the same orientation for easy installation underlow light/time critical conditions. The total power draw from batteriescan be 2.2 W. In one implementation, four batteries are connected inseries, and 2 sets of 4 batteries in parallel. This provides 6V anddivides the power by the 2 battery sets. FIG. 11B is a graphillustrating power discharge characteristics in a handheldstepped-frequency scanning device. During run time the individualbattery voltage is allowed to decay from 1.4V to 0.9V, providingapproximately 1 hour of operation time.

FIG. 12A is a picture illustrating recessed light emitting diodes in ahandheld stepped-frequency scanning device. The device can include lightemitting diodes (LEDs) recessed to provide shadowing to enhance daytimevision with or without a display screen (not shown). FIG. 12B is apicture illustrating operational controls of a handheldstepped-frequency scanning device. Power of the device can be affectedthrough use of the OFF and STDBY controls. In Standby mode the circuitryis placed in a power-save mode, and activation of any one of three SCANpressure switches (one front, two bottom) initiates immediate sensoroperation. The device returns to standby mode when the SCAN button isreleased. Other implementations may include other interfacearrangements. For example, a combination of two SCAN switches could besimultaneously pressed (but not held) to enable timed operation, such aswhen the unit is temporarily adhered to or leaned against a wall, ormounted to a tripod, for hands-off operation.

In one implementation simplifying design, four color LEDs are used toprovide indications to the operator without a display screen. The yellowSTANDBY LED indicates power status: steady illumination indicates poweris on; flashing LED indicates low battery power. The red FAULT LEDindicates one of several conditions: steady illumination indicates thatthe device is unable to make an accurate measurement due to metalblockage, electromagnetic interference (e.g., jamming), or excessivemotion of the sensor; flashing illumination indicates a built-in-test(BIT) failure. The green SCANNING LED remains illuminated while the unitis operating to detect motion. The blue DETECT LED indicates that motionhas been detected. Steady illumination indicates personnel motiondetection at a closer distance. A flashing DETECT LED indicatespersonnel motion detection at a farther distance. A change in color forthe blue DETECT (to Magenta) indicates that subtle movement has beendetected.

The device may be powered on and placed in standby mode by momentarilypressing the STDBY switch. The device may be powered off bysimultaneously pressing the STDBY and OFF switches. This may preventaccidental power-down during normal operation should the OFF switch getaccidentally bumped. In STDBY mode, circuitry is activated in power-savemode, and the device may be immediately operated by pressing one of theSCAN switches. The front SCAN switch may be activated by pressing andholding the device against the wall to be penetrated. One of two bottomSCAN switches may be activated by squeezing with the thumb (normaldevice orientation) or index finger (inverted orientation), or bypressing the device against the knee or thigh when in a kneelingposition.

When any SCAN switch is depressed, the green SCAN LED may illuminate,and may remain illuminated as long as the SCAN switch is depressed. Thismay alert the operator that the device is operational (i.e., that theSCAN switch is properly depressed). A blue DETECT LED may be used toalert the operator of detected personnel. The device may also beprogrammed to detect subtle movement. This mode may be initiated bypressing any SCAN switch twice in rapid succession. The green SCAN LEDmay pulsate slowly when this mode is active. The blue DETECT LED mayilluminate when slow movement (respiration) is detected. Someimplementations use alternative manners of communicating information tousers. For example, one implementations uses a light emitting diodescreen to render a two digit number to express a distance of detectedmoving objects. Other implementations use more sophisticated screens(e.g., more advanced light emitting diodes, organic light emittingdiodes, etc.) to render three dimensional representations and morecomplex information.

Some implementations not employing interferometric processing can haveconical radiation patterns so the device may be arbitrarily oriented(within the plane of the wall); i.e., when held against the wall, theunit may be oriented horizontally, vertically, or in any other positionwithout impacting operational performance. The device may also be heldoff the wall (standoff), provided it is held still during SCANoperation.

FIGS. 13A-13C are diagrams illustrating example uses of a scanningdevice in distinguishing between walls and moving objects. Inparticular, it can be valuable for a scanning device to be able todetermine which reflections of a transmitted signal emanate from a wall(or other inanimate object) and which reflections emanate from anindividual. Based on this determination, a scanning device can provide adisplay indicating the geographic layout of entities with respect to thecontours of a room. Also, based on this determination, a scanning devicecan anticipate and correct for further reflections based on detectedwalls, as discussed in more detail below.

As shown in FIG. 13A, a scanning device is used to scan a room in frontof the device which includes an object (or objects) (here, object 1320Aincludes a chair and a person holding a rifle) between two walls 1310Aand 1315A. For convenience, the three dimensional area of a room isillustrated in FIG. 13A and other Figs. as a two dimensionalapproximation. The object 1320A shown near the top of the page isrepresentative of a chair and a person holding a rifle at a side of aroom. The reflections resulting from the scan of the room depicted inFIG. 13A are shown in FIG. 13B. In FIG. 13B, each circle represents adetected reflection. The size of each circle represents the magnitude ofthe reflections, and the shade of each circle represents the extent ofthe frequency-shift between the transmitted signal and the reflection. Acircle with a darker shade represents a greater extent of thefrequency-shift between the transmitted signal and the reflection ascompared with the extent of the frequency-shift between the transmittedsignal represented by a lighter shade. In FIG. 13B, each of the wallsproduce a number of reflections 1310B and 1315B along a plane withlittle to no frequency-shift, whereas the individual producesreflections 1320B with a frequency shift. The inanimate objectsassociated with the individual, such as the chair, also producingreflections with little to no frequency shift.

The location and the extent of the frequency shift of the reflectionsfrom the individual 1320B can be used by the scanning device todistinguish between the wall and the individual in processing. Theprocessing can include use of a heuristic to discover peaks within theaveraged scene data as shown in FIG. 13B. To improve accuracy, aconstant false alarm rate (CFAR) based detection process can be used todistinguish between the wall and the individual in processing. The boxesshown in FIG. 13C represent the objects identified by the scanningdevice. Specifically, the first box 1310C represents an identified firstwall, the second box 1320C represents an identified moving object, andthe third box 1315C represents an identified second wall.

FIGS. 13D-13E are diagrams illustrating example uses of a scanningdevice in distinguishing between direct and indirect reflections frommoving objects. FIG. 13D illustrates the path of an indirect reflectionof a transmitted signal (the path of the direct reflection is notshown). In particular, a transmitted signal is deflected by a far wall1315D, by a close wall 1310D, by an individual 1320D, and then reachesthe scanning device. The scanning device thus detects both a directreflection and the indirect reflection. From the perspective of thedevice, the indirect reflection has characteristics corresponding to theexistence of a second object which is similar to the first object andlocated further away than the first object. FIG. 13E illustrates thereflections detected by the scanning device. In particular, FIG. 13Eincludes a detected first wall 1310E, a detected first moving object1320E, a detected second wall 1315E, and a detected second moving object1325E.

However, by taking into consideration the existence of the walls asshown in FIG. 13C, the scanning device can identify which reflectionsare characteristic of reflections that would occur from deflections bythe walls. Indirect or “multipath” reflections can be detected basedupon range sorting and range-only processes. However, by including angleand/or azimuth as additional discriminant(s), accuracy of the multipathcomputation can be improved. FIG. 13F is a flow chart of an example of aprocess to distinguish between direct and indirect reflections frommoving objects.

FIGS. 14A-14C are diagrams illustrating example uses of a scanningdevice to determine the existence of moving objects from a cluster ofreflections. In particular, FIG. 14A illustrates a scanning devicescanning a room with a first wall 1410A, a second wall 1415, and twoindividuals 1420A and 1430A in close proximity. As shown in FIG. 14B,the detected reflections from the two individuals overlap to form acluster of reflections 1425B between reflections from the first andsecond walls 1410B and 1415B that is not immediately identifiable asbeing from two or more objects. As such, further processing by thescanning device can be conducted to determine the existence of objectsfrom the cluster of reflections 1425B. FIG. 14C illustrates thedetermined objects from the cluster of reflections. In particular, FIG.14C includes a detected first wall 1410C, a detected first moving object1420C, a detected second moving object 1430C, and a detected second wall1415C. An Order Statistics-Constant False Alarm Rate (OS-CFAR), ConstantFalse Alarm Rate (CFAR), censored CFAR, and/or Fuzzy-C-Means (FCM)process can be used by the scanning device in analyzing the cluster ofreflections. The FCM processes can be modified for real-time (or nearreal-time) operation. For example, the FCM processes can be modified tonot require storage of a membership matrix U.

In addition, a cluster validity index, such as a Xei-Beni index, can beused in estimating the existence of specific objects as generating thecluster of reflections. To aid in speed and accuracy of processing, thecode of the process can be incorporated into a DSP of the scanningdevice with modifications to prevent dynamic memory allocation.Reframing a censored CFAR can also improve real time calculation ofobject movement. The computation of mean and standard deviation ofwindowed samples can be computationally demanding. To increaseefficiency, incremental updates in the statistics (such as the mean andstandard deviation) may be determined as the window slides across therange/Doppler map. FIG. 14D is a flow chart of an example of a processto determine the existence of moving objects from a cluster ofreflections.

FIGS. 15A-15C are diagrams illustrating example uses of a scanningdevice to predict motion of a moving object. By detecting the movementof an object, future movement can be predicted by the scanning device.FIG. 15A illustrates the use of a scanning device to detect a movingobject 1520A. In this example, the moving object 1520A is an individualbehind a wall 1510A. The movement predicted by the scanning device canbe used to better interpret detections of reflections in the nearfuture. For example, in one situation in a noisy environment,reflections representing a moving object are detected, then notdetected, then detected yet again a short time later in an adjacentposition. Further, reflections representing a stationary object also maybe detected, then not detected and then detected yet again in the sameposition, as the reflections of the stationary object are obscured atsome times within the noisy environment.

FIG. 15B illustrates the reflections detected by the device during ashort period of time (e.g., a second). In particular, FIG. 15B includesreflections from a wall 1510B, reflections from a moving entity in afirst area 1520B, and reflections from a moving entity in a second area1530B. Without movement detection, the scanning device may have troubleinterpreting the data from the reflections 1520B and 1530B and mayerroneously drop display of an object or display multiple objects. Bydetecting motion of the object in real time, the scanning device canexpect the motion of the object to the adjacent location and interpretthe data from processing as being reflective of a single moving object.FIG. 15C illustrates the objects detected by the scanning device giventhe reflections detected in FIG. 15B. The line 1540C in FIG. 15Crepresents the motion expected by the device. In taking into account theexpected motion, the device has detected a single moving object 1525Cand a wall 1510C.

FIG. 15D is a flow chart of an example of a process to predict motion ofa moving object. In order to better detect a moving object, processescan be configured to dynamically adjust tracking gains. In oneimplementation, the process include use an alpha-beta-gamma trackingfilter. In other implementations requiring better detection of movingtargets, a fully-coupled extended Kalman filter that tracks in theCartesian coordinate space can be used. The fully-coupled Kalman filtercan provide automatic range-rate/Doppler correlation and can produceimprovement in capability over an alpha-beta-gamma tracking filter.Also, coasting logic, tracking gate overlap logic, and track-to-detectassociation for multi-target tracking can be used.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart of an example process 1600 to identify, trackand classify multiple objects. The objects may be referred to astargets. The process 1600 may reduce or eliminate false alarms arisingfrom systemic errors (such as false alarms arising from a multi-pathreflection), resulting in improved performance.

The process 1600 may be performed by one or more processors included ina device for detecting objects or targets, such as entities or persons.The device may include the sensor device 110 discussed with respect toFIG. 1A or the scanning device 150 discussed with respect to FIG. 1B.The process 1600 may be performed by one or more processors separatefrom, and in communication with, a device such as the sensor device 110or the scanning device 150. For example, the process 1600 may beperformed by a computer in communication with such a device. In someimplementations, the wall penetrating personnel detection sensors(WPPDS) (e.g., Sense Through The Wall (STTW) sensors) described withreference to FIGS. 10A-12B may perform the process 1600, and, in thediscussion below, the process may be performed by the WPPDS.

Multiple targets are identified (1610). The multiple targets mayinclude, for example, two persons located in close proximity with eachother, such as the persons 1420A and 1430A shown in FIG. 14A. Themultiple targets may include multiple objects within an enclosed space,such as the person 120A who is sitting in a chair, the person 115running in the space, and the fan 125 shown in FIG. 1A. As discussedwith respect to FIG. 14A, in some instances, the signals reflected fromthe multiple objects are not immediately identifiable as being from twoor more distinct objects without further analysis and processing of thedata from the WPPDS. The signals reflected from the multiple objects areprocessed and analyzed to determine that multiple, distinct targets arepresent. The presence of multiple targets may be determined at one ormore instances in time.

In the discussion below, moving targets may be considered to be targetsor objects that move within a space from a first spatial location to asecond, distinct, spatial location. An example of a moving target is aperson walking through a room. Near-stationary or substantiallystationary targets are targets or objects that do not move from onespatial location to another but do exhibit subtle movements that aredetectable by the WPPDS. A person sitting quietly in a chair or sleepingon a floor are examples of near-stationary targets. Stationary targetsare targets that do not ordinarily exhibit motion in the absence ofapplying force to the target. Examples of stationary targets includebookcases, filing cabinets and walls.

Additionally, targets or objects are physical items that are present ina space. Candidate detections, potential detections, or detections maybe an indication from the WPPDS that a physical item may be present.Candidate detections may arise from radar signals reflecting fromphysical objects in the space or from artifacts such as multi-pathreflections and system errors. Actual detections, confirmed detections,or detections may be candidate detections that arise from an object ortarget. False alarms are candidate detections that arise from anartifact.

The motion of the multiple targets identified in (1610) is tracked(1620). For example, the multiple targets identified in (1610) may betargets that are moving through a space (such as the running person 115in FIG. 1A) or targets that are stationary, or nearly stationary, suchas the person 120A sitting in the chair or the fan 125 of FIG. 1A).Tracking the identified multiple targets provides an indication of thelocation of the multiple targets over time.

The WPPDS may utilize a Doppler frequency shift to calculate a rangerate (the rate at which a target moves towards or away from the radar)for targets. The Doppler frequency shift is the difference in frequencybetween a transmitted signal and a return signal, and the Dopplerfrequency shift may provide radial motion (velocity) information for thetarget. For example, as a target moves from an initial location to asecond location from a first time to a second time, respectively,signals reflected from the target exhibits a frequency shift (such as, aDoppler shift) as the target moves from the initial location to thesecond location that may be processed by the WPPDS. To track aparticular one of the identified multiple targets, characteristics ofthe particular target at the first time may be compared tocharacteristics of a detected target at the second time to determinewhether the target detected at the second time is the same target thatwas detected at the first time. If the targets are determined to be thesame, the second target is associated with a track of the first targetand the first target is deemed to have moved from the initial locationto the second location.

The multiple identified targets are classified as detections or falsealarms (1630). The multiple targets may be classified as detections orfalse alarms at a classifier such as the classifier discussed withrespect to, for example, FIG. 17. The classifier may comparecharacteristics of the multiple targets to known characteristics ofdetections and false alarms to determine whether a particular target isan actual detection or a false alarm. Alternatively or additionally, theclassifier may account for known environmental conditions and existingstructures to determine whether a particular target is a false alarmcaused by, for example, multiple reflections off of an internal wall ora fixed structure within a building or the erroneous identification of astationary target as a moving target. In this regard, the classifier mayact to reduce systemic errors that increase the number of false alarms,thus improving performance of a device such as the device 110, thesensor device 150, or the WPPDS.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a system 1700 for identifying, tracking,and classifying multiple targets. The system includes a sensorprocessing module 1710, a scene module 1720, a processing module 1725,and a classifier module 1750. The processing module 1725 includes amover processing module 1730 and a stationary processing module 1740.

The sensor processing module 1710 receives and processes data from asensor that monitors a space. For example, the sensor processing module1710 may receive a signal from the forward looking antennas 114 (FIG.1A) and the backward looking antenna 116 (FIG. 1A) of the device 110,and the data may be received as an IQ data pair. The IQ data pair may beoutput from the mixer 350 of the circuit 300 of FIG. 3. As discussedabove, the mixer 350 is a quadrature demodulator that outputs “I” and“Q” data (referred to as IQ data) where a separate IQ data pair may begenerated for each transmitted frequency.

The data signals received by the sensor processing module 1710 aresignals that have reflected off of objects in a monitored space inresponse to those objects being exposed to signals transmitted from aradar. The transmitted signal includes multiple frequencies (forexample, the transmitted signal may include 250 frequencies, each ofwhich are separated by about 2 MHz), and the signal reflected from theobjects includes data at each of the multiple frequencies.

Additionally, each frequency in the reflected signal has an associatedmagnitude and phase. The magnitude of the reflected signals may dependon the range (distance) from the sensor to the object, path loss due towalls and other barriers and obstructions, and environmental factorsthat give rise to multi-path reflections. The phase of the reflectedsignal corresponds to the range to the target and back as a function ofradio signal wavelength. The sensor processing module may analyze themagnitude and phase of the data signals by performing an inverse Fouriertransform (IFFT) of the data signals to produce a signal magnitude as afunction of range to the target. The data produced by the sensorprocessing module 1710 may be referred to as high-range resolution (HRR)data.

The range to the target may be provided by stepping through multipletransmit frequencies so that the amount of difference in phase betweenthe transmitted signal and its received (returned) signal may bemeasured and used to calculate the distance, or range, to the target.The more frequency steps that are transmitted, the better the rangeresolution becomes. In addition, by processing additional receivedsamples of the signal at each frequency, the Doppler resolution mayincrease allowing the WPPDS to extract moving targets from cluttercontent that does not normally move between various locations in amonitored space, such as grass and trees. Signal processing may,therefore, cancel out much of the stationary clutter. Therefore, theclutter content may be classified as a false alarm. In addition, the useof increased signal integration times may decrease the margin betweentarget detection and clutter.

In some implementations, the sensor processing module 1710 receivesinertial measurement unit (IMU) accelerometer data. The IMU data mayindicate the current rate of acceleration of a the sensor using one ormore accelerometers. In some implementations, the IMU may indicate achange in rotational attributes such as pitch, roll and yaw using one ormore gyroscopes.

In some implementations, the sensor processing module 1710 may include aleakage canceller that estimates a direct-path leakage signal andremoves or reduces the effects of the direct-path leakage signal on thedata received by the sensor processing module 1710. A direct-pathleakage may be a signal that is received directly from a transmittingantenna without any reflection from the environment. Removing theleakage signal allows smaller echoes to be uncovered that wouldotherwise be swamped by the higher-amplitude leakage signal.

The scene module 1720 performs scene mapping for use in the classifiermodule 1750. The scene module 1720 generates a mapping, model, or otherrepresentation of fixed or semi-fixed objects in the vicinity of theradar. For example, the scene module 1720 may generate a mapping thatspecifies relative locations and orientations of walls, objects, andother barriers (such as trees) that may reflect transmitted radarsignals. The mapping, model, or other representation is used by theclassifier module 1750 to model the reflection of signals from fixedobjects in the scene and to determine which detections are caused bymulti-path reflections for a given scene geometry,

The scene module 1720 may receive or access predetermined information(such as GPS coordinates) that specifies the locations and orientationsof walls that form a building observed during a previous visit to anarea. Alternatively or additionally, the scene module 1720 may receivean HRR from the sensor processing module 1710 and analyze the HRR todetermine the locations of walls and other fixed barriers relative tothe sensor. For example, large stationary objects in a scene may providestrong radar return with near-zero Doppler frequency shifts. If thelarge stationary objects are located directly in front of and/or with anorientation that is normal to the WPPDS, the strong radar returns areassumed to be caused by walls. The location of the walls relative to theWPPDS may be determined from the radar return, and the location may beused by the classifier module 1750. The location, orientation, and/orother information about the walls may be stored in an electronic memoryfor future use and/or displayed to a user of the sensor. For example,referring to FIG. 1A, the located walls may be displayed to the user 105as horizontal lines on the display 110 of the handheld stepped-frequencysensor device 110 (e.g., the WPPDS). In some implementations, thelocated walls (or other barriers) may be transmitted from the WPPDS to auser who is remote from the scene.

The system 1700 also includes the processing module 1725, which includesthe mover processing module 1730 and the stationary processing module1740. The mover processing module 1730 processes data to detect movingtargets (those targets that move among multiple spatial locations withina monitored space over a period of time), and the stationary processingmodule 1740 processes data to detect stationary targets (those targetsthat are substantially stationary over the period of time but havesubtle movements, such as a still but breathing person). Stationarytargets may be referred to as “breathers.”

The sensor processing module 1710 provides the HRR output to the moverprocessing module 1730 and the stationary processing module 1740. Themover processing module 1730 and the stationary processing module 1740provide simultaneous, or nearly simultaneous, detection and tracking ofmoving and near-stationary targets. The mover processing module 1730 mayinclude processing a Doppler map (data that expresses range as afunction of Doppler), a clutter map, and detection and tracking oftargets. A high-pass filter or preset threshold may remove or reduce theeffects of reflected radar signals that have a Doppler shift that islower than a minimum threshold for moving targets. The stationaryprocessing module 1740 may include selective range-bin motioncompensation, analysis of a Doppler map, and detection and tracking oftargets.

The WPPDS may use a multi-channel phase interferometer that processes areceived signal to enable location of entities or targets within a givenenvironment. For example, the interferometer may include three channels,with each channel including a receiver and a transmitter. In otherexamples, the interferometer may include more than three channels.

In one implementation, the multi-phase interferometer is a two-channelinterferometer. The two-channel phase interferometer may include tworeceiver antennas and a transmitter. The two-channel phaseinterferometer includes a left channel and a right channel correspondingto a left and right receiver antenna, respectively. The mover processingmodule 1730 may create a range-Doppler map by performing a short-timeFourier Transform (STFT) on a predetermined number (e.g., sixteen) ofHRR data received from the sensor processing module 1710 for each of aleft and right channel of the two-channel phase interferometer. Thenumber of HRR data sets is based on the number of frequency sweepsperformed by the sensor processing module 1720 on the input IQ datapair. The left and right STFT outputs are then summed together toprovide a final, composite range-Doppler map that is provided to aconstant false alarm rate (CFAR) filter for target detection. FIG. 19shows an example of a Range-Doppler map.

The CFAR filter may find targets by comparing the energy in each cell ofthe range-Doppler map with the average of its surrounding cells. At thisstage, the relative signal amplitudes from the front and back channelsfor each target is determined. For example, targets behind the sensor,such as the user of the sensor, may be suppressed.

Clutter detections are detections that have Doppler shifts that do notcorrelate with their range rates. For example, windblown grass and trees(which may exhibit subtle motions but are stationary objects) areclutter, as are mechanical devices such as fans. A clutter mappingprocess may suppress detections that are identified as clutter. Theclutter mapping process may use an M-of-N binary detector to filter outtransient detections leaving those detections that persist. Thedetections that persist are more likely to be true targets and notsystematic errors.

The stationary processing module 1740 analyzes the data from sensormodule 1710 to detect stationary, or near-stationary targets. Suchtargets may be referred to as “breathers.” In some implementations, thestationary processing module 1740 may use a signal integration periodthat is longer than the integration period used by the mover processingmodule 1730. In addition, the stationary processing module 1740 may useadditional frequency sweeps as compared to the number of frequencysweeps used by the mover processing module 1730. The larger number offrequency sweeps may provide a greater processing gain. In addition, thelarger quantity of frequency sweeps may allow the stationary processingmodule 1740 to detect the reflected signals and Doppler shifts ofnear-stationary targets, both of which are relatively small compared tothe reflected signals and Doppler shifts of moving targets. Thestationary processing module 1740 also may include motion compensationtechniques to compensate for sensor-induced motion.

The mover processing module 1730 and the stationary processing module1740 produce detections of moving objects and stationary objects,respectively. The detections may include, for example, the location ofthe detection, the time of the detection, and the strength of thedetection. The mover processing module 1730 and the stationaryprocessing module 1740 also may produce tracks that describe the motionof the objects over time. The mover processing module 1730 and thestationary processing module 1740 provide the detections and/or thetracks to the classifier module 1750.

The system 1700 also includes the classifier module 1750. The classifiermodule 1750 segregates detections that arise from moving objects ofinterest and near-stationary objects of interest from detections thatarise from other phenomena. Detections that arise from moving objects ofinterest or stationary objects of interest are actual detections, anddetections that arise from other phenomena are false alarms. The otherphenomena may include multipath returns that may be modeled using thescene geometry generated by the scene module 1720. The classifier module1750 may use the location of a wall provided by the model to reduce thefalse alarm rate. For example, during daylight hours, an operator maynot be interested in objects that are on the same side of the wall asthe sensor because those objects are visible to the operator. In thisexample, the classifier module 1750 may suppress detections that areassociated with a range that indicates the target is on the same side ofthe wall as the sensor. In this example, the classifier module 1750 mayprovide the remaining targets (those that are on the other side of thewall from the sensor) for display to the user. As a result, fewerdetections are displayed to the user, and the user may be able tounderstand and act on the data more quickly.

FIG. 18 is an illustration of an example space observed by a sensor 1850at a time t1, and FIG. 19 is an illustration of a range-Doppler mappingof the space. Referring to FIG. 18, at a particular time (t=t1), thesensor 1850 (for example, a WPPDS) is positioned on a first side 1805 ofa boundary 1860 and four targets 1810, 1820, 1830, and 1840 are on asecond side 1807 of the boundary 1860 (e.g., in a room) that includesopen space 1870. At time=t1, the targets 1810, 1820, and 1830 are atapproximately the same range or distance from the sensor 1850. However,the targets 1810, 1820, and 1830 are positioned at a different anglerelative to the sensor 1850. For example, the target 1820 issubstantially in the direct line of sight from the sensor 1850, whereasthe target 1830 is located at an angle θ (such as the angle 1880 shownin FIG. 18) relative to the line of sight of the sensor 1850. The angleθ may be used to determine that the target 1830 and the target 1820 areseparate targets even though these two targets have the same range.

The sensor 1850 may include a SFCW radar that provides a continuous wavesignal for use in determining the movement of a target. A user may holdthe activated sensor 1850 directed towards the boundary 1860. The sensor1850 may transmit stepped-frequency radar signals using, for example,one or more antennas (not shown) as transceivers. In another example,the sensor 1850 may transmit stepped-frequency radar signals using aseparate transmitter. The signals from the sensor 1850 propagate outwardas shown by the dotted lines in FIG. 18. The signals strike target 1820and target 1830 at an angle of arrival θ. The signals are reflected backto the sensor 1850 by target 1820 and target 1830. The sensor 1850receives the reflected signals from target 1820 and target 1830. Thereflected signals exhibit a Doppler frequency shift proportional to themagnitude of the target's movement towards or away from the sensor 1850.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 18, the SFCW radar of the sensor 1850provides a direct-path range 1890 to target 1820 and target 1830 at atime equal to t₁. The direct-range path 1890 may represent the locationof target 1820 and target 1830 in the open space 1870 within theboundary 1860 at the time equal to t₁. A phase interferometer providesthe angle of arrival θ for target 1820 and target 1830. For example, asdescribed with reference to FIG. 17, a two-channel phase interferometermay be used to determine cross-range or azimuthal location of targets.The direct-path range 1890 may be calculated using an IFFT of thereceived SFCW radar pulse. The direct-path range 1890 may be representedby a “bin” in the form of an annular ring surrounding the sensor 1850where the diameter of the annular ring is the radar range resolution. Insome cases, dependent on the proximity of one target to another target,a target may straddle two range bins.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of a Range-Doppler map forthe targets in FIG. 18. For example, FIG. 19 may be a range-Doppler map1900 created by the mover processing module 1730 discussed in FIG. 17.The range-Doppler map 1900 includes cells (e.g., cell 1950), and a powerlevel is associated with each cell. The power level may be representedby a numerical value. In some implementations, the range-Doppler map1900 may be visually presented with a particular display style (such ascolors or cross-hatching) representing the power level of a detection ina cell. For example, violet may represent low energy cells, and therepresented energy level of a cell may increase as the color of the cellvaries from violet through blue, green, yellow, orange and then to red.Cells in the range-Doppler map 1900 with a relatively high power levelmay represent a detected target. Cells in the range-Doppler map 1900with a low power level (such as the cell 1950) may represent open spacewith no detected target.

Each detected target illustrated in FIG. 18 (target 1810, target 1820,target 1830 and target 1840) is shown on the range-Doppler map 1900. Inaddition, a region surrounding each detected target (region 1910, region1920, region 1930, and region 1940 for target 1810, target 1820, target1830 and target 1840, respectively) may include cells that may be at ahigher energy level than outside surrounding cells but at a lower energylevel than the detected target. For example, target 1830 is included inregion 1930. Cells 1960 a-d may be at a higher energy level than cells1960 e-m which may be at a higher energy level than the remainingsurrounding cells (e.g., cell 1950). For example, the color used foreach of cells 1960 a-d may be orange to indicate the detection of target1830 by the WPPDS. The cells 1960 e-m included in the region 1930 may beyellow. The remaining surrounding cells (e.g., cell 1950) may be blueindicating low energy areas that represent open space with no detectabletargets.

A vertical axis 1970 of the range-Doppler map 1900 indicates thedirect-range path from the sensor to each target (e.g., the range fromthe sensor 1850 to each target). For example, an operator 1980 may beshown on the range-Doppler map 1900 at zero range at a midline 1990. Theoperator may be represented using a particular display style (such asthe color orange). The operator 1980 may be holding the sensor 1850,directing the sensor 1850 towards the boundary 1860 that includes thetargets. A horizontal axis 1990 of the range-Doppler map 1900 indicatesa Doppler frequency shift of the return signal. For example, a targetreceding from the sensor 1850 may appear on the left side of therange-Doppler map 1900. A target advancing towards the sensor 1850 mayappear on the right of the range-Doppler map 1900. As shown in FIG. 19,target 1830 is advancing towards the sensor 1850 while target 1810 isreceding away from the sensor 1850. The speed at which the target ismoving determines the Doppler frequency shift and consequently how farto the left or right of the midline 1990 of the range-Doppler map 1900the target appears.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart of an example process 2000 to detect multipleobjects. For example, the process 2000 may be performed by one or moreprocessors included in the WPPDS. A processor may be integrated for usewith stepped-frequency continuous wave (SFCW) radar and a phaseinterferometer included in the WPPDS. In some implementations, the SFCWradar and phase interferometer may each employ a processor where theprocessors are communicatively coupled to provide the functions of theWPPDS. In some implementations, the process 2000 may be performed by oneor more processors included in the handheld stepped-frequency sensordevice 110 described with reference to FIG. 1A.

A stepped-frequency radar signal is transmitted through a barrier(2010). A user may hold the WPPDS and direct it towards a barrier. Forexample, referring to FIG. 18, the user holds sensor 1850 and directs ittowards the boundary 1860. The WPPDS may use SFCW radar and atwo-channel phase interferometer that includes a signal generator totransmit the stepped-frequency radar signal. The signal generatorprovides the multiple frequency signals for transmission by thetransmitter.

A signal that includes a reflection of the transmitted signal from afirst object and a signal that includes a reflection of the transmittedsignal from a second object is sensed (2020). For example, the SFCWradar of the WPPDS receives a reflection (echo) of the transmittedsignal from a first object and a second object. The first and secondobjects are located within the boundary 1860 shown in FIG. 18. Forexample, the sensor 1850 receives a signal that includes the reflectionof the transmitted signal from target 1820 and the reflection of thetransmitted signal from target 1830. The magnitude of the receivedsignal may be a function of the location of the target from the sensor1850 at a specific time (e.g., range (t₁) in FIG. 18) and the path lossdue to the transmission through the boundary 1860. The received signalphase corresponds to a phase shift of the reflected signal at aparticular frequency. As discussed above, the transmitted signalincludes multiple different frequencies (for example, 250 differentfrequencies). The phase shift at each of the different frequencies maybe analyzed and the phase shift as a function of frequency correspondsto the range to the target and back.

The sensed signal is analyzed to determine that a first detection isassociated with the first object and a second detection is associatedwith the second object (2030). For example, the sensor processing module1710 may receive the IQ data pair from the mixer 350 included in thecircuit 300 of FIG. 3. The sensor processing module 1710 performs afrequency sweep of the IQ data and provides HRR output for use by thescene module 1720, the mover processing module 1730 and the breatherprocessing module 1740 in order to detect a target (object) from amongwalls and clutter. The first object and the second object may bediscrete objects, and the characteristics of the first and seconddetections may be analyzed to determine that the first and secondobjects are discrete objects. For example, the first and seconddetections may have the same range (or distance) but different angle ofarrivals, thus indicating that the first and second detections areassociated with different objects. Additionally, or alternatively,Doppler may be used as a feature to distinguish among different objects.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of tracks associated withmultiple targets over time. The tracks represent motion of a target overtime. In the example of FIG. 21, a time equal to t₁ corresponds to thetime represented in the scenario illustrated in FIG. 18. FIG. 21 showsrange values (range value 2110 c, range value 2120 c, range value 2130c, and range value 2140 c) determined by the sensor 1850 for each of thefour targets (target 1810, target 1820, target 1830 and target 1840),respectively, at a time equal to t₁. The range value 2110 c, range value2130 b, range value 2130 c, and range value 2140 c is included in atrack 2110, track 2130 and track 2140, for target 1810, target 1820,target 1830 and target 1840, respectively. The track for each targetshows determined ranges for each respective target detected at points intime before or after the time equal to t₁. For example, a user holds aWPPDS and directs it towards the boundary 1860. At multiple points intime, the sensor 1850 operates to transmit and receive returnedreflected signals from the targets within the open space 1870 of theboundary 1860. The process of transmitting and receiving returnedreflected signals was described with reference to FIG. 18.

The system 1700 (FIG. 17) may include a track processing subsystem (atracker) 1760A, 1760B. At an initial time, for example, when the userfirst turns on the WPPDS and directs it towards the boundary 1860, rangevalue 2110 a, range value 2120 a, range value 2130 a, and range value2140 a are determined for target 1810, target 1820, target 1830, andtarget 1840, respectively. At a subsequent time after the first time,the WPPDS transmits signals that are again reflected by target 1810,target 1820, target 1830, and target 1840. The detections of the targets1810, 1820, 1830, and 1840 are provided to the tracker 1760A, 1760B forassociation. For example, the tracker 1760A, 1760B would receive rangevalue 2110 a, range value 2120 a, range value 2130 a, and range value2140 a for target 1810, target 1820, target 1830, and target 1840,respectively. The tracker 1760A, 1760B maintains a history of previousdetections for a target and their range values. This allows the tracker1760A, 1760B to track the movement of the target over time along a track(e.g., movement of target 1810 on track 2110). The tracker 1760A, 1760Bmay predict, using previous Doppler and range information, where atarget should be at a future time. If a currently detected target fallswithin the association window of an existing track for the target, thecurrently detected target is associated with the track. The associationwindow may include a range of values for an expected range, Doppler, andazimuth angle of arrival. In addition, the detected target is assumed tobe the same target as was previously detected.

For example, the tracker 1760A maintains a history of range values 2110a-d for target 1810. When the tracker 1760A receives range value 2110 esometime after time t₁, the tracker 1760A determines if the range value2110 e falls within the association window of the existing track (track2110) for the target 1810. As shown in FIG. 21, the range value 2110 edoes fall within the association window of the existing track 2110 andthe range value 2110 e is added to the existing track 2110 for target1810. In addition, the range value 2110 e is added to the existinghistory for the track 2110.

The tracks for each target provide information related to the distancefrom the sensor at which the target is located (the range value) and themovement of the target relative to the sensor over time. For example,the track 2110 for target 1810 shows that the target 1810 is moving awayfrom the sensor 1825. In another example, the track 2120 shows that thetarget 1820 remains stationary (stays at the same range value) for eachpoint in time of detection. The target 1820 may be a stationary object,such as a breathing person.

Detected targets that do not lie in the association window for anexisting target are assumed to be new targets. The tracker 1760A, 1760Bcreates a new history for the new target that are compared to futuretarget detections.

Referring to FIG. 21, at time=t₁, the targets 1810, 1820, and 1830 havethe same range, thus the respective tracks 2110, 2120, and 2130 crossthrough each other at time=t₁. To reduce the possibility of one trackbeing confused with another track, in some implementations, when a firsttrack becomes close to a second track, as measured by, for example, thefirst and second tracks having a similar range at a particular time, thefirst and second track coast through each other. The tracks coastthrough each other by extrapolating the existing track without regard tothe most recent detections. Thus, at the time t₁, the tracks 2110, 2120,and 2130 may be assumed to continue to follow a path determined by timesprior to the time t₁.

FIG. 22 is a flow chart of an example process 2200 for tracking multipletargets over time. The process 2200 may be performed by one or moreprocessors included in the WPPDS or by one or more processors separatefrom but in communication with the WPPDS. A processor may be integratedfor use with stepped-frequency continuous wave (SFCW) radar and a phaseinterferometer included in the WPPDS. In some implementations, the SFCWradar and phase interferometer may each employ a processor where theprocessors are communicatively coupled to provide the functions of theWPPDS. In some implementations, the process 2200 may be performed by oneor more processors included in the handheld stepped-frequency sensordevice 110 described with reference to FIG. 1A.

A stepped-frequency radar signal is transmitted through a barrier(2210). A user may hold the WPPDS and direct it towards a barrier. Forexample, referring to FIG. 18, the user holds sensor 1850 and directs ittowards the boundary 1860. The WPPDS may use SFCW radar and atwo-channel phase interferometer that includes a signal generator totransmit the stepped-frequency radar signal. The signal generatorprovides the multiple frequency signals for transmission by thetransmitter.

A signal that includes a reflection of the transmitted signal from afirst object and a signal that includes a reflection of the transmittedsignal from a second object is sensed (2220). For example, the SFCWradar of the WPPDS receives a reflection (echo) of the transmittedsignal from a first object and a second object. The first and secondobjects are located within the boundary 1860 shown in FIG. 18. Forexample, the sensor 1850 receives a signal that includes the reflectionof the transmitted signal from target 1820 and the reflection of thetransmitted signal from target 1830. The magnitude of the receivedsignal may be a function of the location of the target from the sensor1850 at a specific time (e.g., range (t₁) in FIG. 18) and the path lossdue to the transmission through the boundary 1860. The received signalphase corresponds to the range to the target and back in terms of theradio signal wavelength.

The sensed signal is analyzed to determine that a first detection isassociated with the first object and a second detection is associatedwith the second object (2230). For example, the first object and thesecond object may be discrete objects, and the characteristics of thefirst and second detections may be analyzed to determined that the firstand second objects are discrete objects. For example, the first andsecond detections may have the same range but different angle ofarrivals, thus indicating that the first and second detections areassociated with different objects. A second stepped-frequency radarsignal is transmitted through the barrier at a second time (2240).Referring to FIG. 18, the user may continue to hold the sensor 1850 anddirect it towards the boundary 1860. The SFCW radar included in thesensor 1850 will again transmit the stepped-frequency radar signal. Asignal that includes a second reflection of the transmitted signal fromthe first object and a signal that includes a second reflection of thetransmitted signal from the second object is sensed (2250).

The sensed signal is analyzed to determine that a third detection isassociated with the first object and a fourth detection is associatedwith the second object (2230). For example, the mover processing module1730 may determine a third range value and associate the third rangevalue with the first object. The mover processing module 1730 maydetermine a fourth range value and associate the fourth range value withthe second object. Characteristics or parameters of the third detectionare compared to characteristics of the first detection of the firstobject and the second detection of the second object to determinewhether the third detection is a detection of the first object or thesecond object. For example, the characteristics and parameters mayinclude angle of arrival, range, target strength, Doppler shift, andrange rate.

A tracker 1760A included in the mover processor module 1730 maintains ahistory of range values for each of the first object and the secondobject. The history of the range values for the first object includes afirst range value and a third range value. The difference in the firstrange value and the third range value may indicate the movement (if any)of the first object either towards or away from the sensor 1850. In asimilar manner, the history of the range values for the second objectincludes a second range value and a fourth range value. The differencein the second range value and the fourth range value may indicate themovement (if any) of the second object either towards or away from thesensor 1850. Additionally, the tracker may maintain a history of anglevalues and Doppler values for each of the first and second objects. Forexample, the difference in the second angle value and/or the Dopplervalue may indicate movement of the second object. The range, Doppler,and angle values may be used individually or together to determinecharacteristics of the first and second objects. In some implementationsa Doppler signature known to be associated with a particular object ortype of object may be stored in the tracker 1760A before monitoringbegins. Doppler values observed during monitoring may be comparedagainst the signature to identify the particular object associated withthe stored Doppler signature.

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a model of a reflection 2350 for anobject 2310 located between a front wall 2330 and a back wall 2340 of anexterior wall 2320. The model includes an additional multipathreflection 2360. The model of the reflection 2350 and the multipathreflection 2360 may be used in the classifier module 1750 to distinguishbetween detections that arise from actual targets, such as moving orstationary persons, and detections that arise from other phenomena, suchas detections that result from the presence of multiple path reflectionssuch as the multipath reflection 2360.

In the example of FIG. 23, a sensor/transmitter 2370 (e.g., a WPPDS)that includes SFCW radar transmits stepped-frequency radar signalsusing, for example, one or more antennas (not shown) as transceivers. Atransmitted signal 2380 penetrates the exterior 2320 of the front wall2330 and strikes the object 2310. A true reflection signal 2350 of thetransmitted signal 2380 is reflected from the object 2320 back to thesensor/transmitter 2370. The reflected signal exhibits a Dopplerfrequency shift proportional to the magnitude of the movement of theobject 2320 towards or away from the sensor/transmitter 2370. However,the interaction between the transmitted signal 2380 and the object 2320also gives rise to the multipath reflection 2360, and the multipathreflection 2360 may be erroneously detected as a object separate fromthe object 2320.

Modeling the expected multi-path reflections arising from a particularplacement of a movable object in a space modeled by, for example, thescene module 1720 discussed with respect to FIG. 17, allows foridentification and rejection of false detections caused by the multipathreflection 2360. For example, characteristics of a detection predictedto occur due to the multipath reflection 2360 (such as the angle ofarrival and the Doppler shift of the detection) may be predicted fromthe model. The characteristics of the detections from an actual scenariothat is similar to the modeled scenario may be compared to the predictedcharacteristics of a detection arising from multi-path reflections.Actual detections that are similar to, or the same as, the predicteddetection are classified as false alarms.

FIG. 24 is a flow chart of an example process 2400 for classifying apotential detection. For example, the WPPDS may perform the process2000. The process 2000 may be performed by or more processors includedin the WPPDS. A processor may be integrated for use withstepped-frequency continuous wave (SFCW) radar and a phaseinterferometer included in the WPPDS. In some implementations, the SFCWradar and phase interferometer may each employ a processor where theprocessors are communicatively coupled to provide the functions of theWPPDS. In some implementations, the process 2400 may be performed by oneor more processors included in the handheld stepped-frequency sensordevice 110 described with reference to FIG. 1A. The classifier module1750 may perform the process 2400.

A representation of a space that includes a barrier that defines aninterior region and an object in the interior region is generated(2410). For example, and referring to FIG. 23, the scene module 1720 maymodel location of the front wall 2330 and the back wall 2340 relative tothe object 2310 and/or the sensor 2370. A parameter that definesreflections of a radar signal that propagates through the barrier andinto the interior region and irradiates portions of the barrier and theobject is determined (2420). The parameter may be, for example, aDoppler shift, an angle of arrival or a range.

A parameter of a potential detection of the object is accessed (2430).The parameter may be, for example, a Doppler shift, an angle of arrivalor a range. In some implementations, the classifier module 1750 mayaccess a parameter of a potential detection of an object frominformation received from the mover processing module 1730. In someimplementations, the parameter that defines the reflections of a radarsignal and/or the parameter of the potential detection are accessed froman electronic storage separate from the mover processing module 1730.

The parameter that defines the reflections of the radar signal iscompared to the parameter of the potential detection (2440), and thepotential detection is classified as an actual detection or a falsealarm based on the comparison (2450). For example, if the reflection ofthe radar signal includes the true reflection 2350, and the parameterthat defines the reflections of the radar signal and the parameter ofthe potential detection are the same or substantially similar, then thepotential detection is classified as an actual detection of the object2330. If the reflection of the radar signal does not include the truereflection 2350 then the potential detection is classified as a falsealarm. In instances in which the potential detection is classified as afalse alarm, and other detections are classified as actual detections,the actual detections may be visually presented without the potentialdetection to reduce the amount of information and provide for simplerdecision making by an operator.

FIG. 25 is a flow chart of an example process 2500 for detecting motionof a detected object. The process 2500 may be used to reduce the effectsof a moving target on the processing of data for stationary targets. Theprocess 2500 may be performed by the by or more processors included inthe WPPDS. A processor may be integrated for use with stepped-frequencycontinuous wave (SFCW) radar and a phase interferometer included in theWPPDS. In some implementations, the SFCW radar and phase interferometermay each employ a processor where the processors are communicativelycoupled to provide the functions of the WPPDS. In some implementations,the process 2500 may be performed by one or more processors included inthe handheld stepped-frequency sensor device 110 described withreference to FIG. 1A.

Data processed by a first channel of a sensor configured to sense movingobjects in a bounded space from outside of the bounded space is accessed(2510). Data processed by a second channel is accessed (2520). The moverprocessing module 1730 may be the first data processing channel, and thestationary processing module 1740 may be the second data processingchannel. An object is detected in the data processed by the secondchannel (2530). For example, the stationary processing module 1740detects an object.

The detected object is analyzed and identified as a moving object(2540). For example, the mover processing module 1730 may analyze theHRR data received from the sensor processing module 1720, and thetracker may determine that the detected object is a moving object basedon the history of the detected object. For example, if the detectedobject has been detected at a recent time at a different range and angleof arrival than the angle of arrival and range associated with thecurrent detection, the detected object is determined to be a movingobject.

The data processed by the second channel of the sensor is processed suchthat the data sensed by the second channel emphasizes datarepresentative of substantially stationary objects and deemphasizes datarepresentative of the moving object (2550). For example, the detectedobject identified as a moving object in (2540) may be removed from thedata processed by the second channel. The classifier module 1750receives the output of the detections of the mover processing module1730 and the stationary processing module 1740. The classifier module1750 segregates the moving objects from the stationary objects using thedata provided by the mover processing module 1730 and the stationaryprocessing module 1740.

FIGS. 26A-26D show examples of a visual display presented by the WPPDS.The display may be presented on an LCD screen located on the WPPDS or adisplay remote from the WPPDS. FIG. 26A shows a polar grid with areas ofconstant range and rays of constant azimuth. FIG. 26B shows arectangular horizontal lines of constant “down range” from the sensorand vertical lines of constant “cross range.” In some implementations,both the polar grid and the rectangular grid may be simultaneouslypresented to an operator. In other examples, the operator may select todisplay only one style of grid (either the polar grid or the rectangulargrid).

FIG. 26C and FIG. 26D shows an example of an actual detection 2605. Forexample, the detection 2605 may correspond to a detection of targetldiscussed with respect to FIGS. 19 and 21. In the example shown in FIG.26C and FIG. 26D, candidate detections that arise from artifacts aresuppressed to reduce the amount of information presented to the operatoror to an automated system for further action.

FIG. 27 is a block diagram of a detection system. The detection systemincludes a sensor system 2701 and a processing system 2720. The sensorsystem 2701 is a radar system that produces a radar signal capable ofpenetrating through walls of a building and receiving signals reflectedoff of moving objects or targets inside of or outside of the building.The reflected signals include information sufficient to determine thepresence of moving, near-stationary, and/or stationary targets inside ofor outside of the building, track the motion of such targets, andclassify the targets as actual detections or false alarms. The sensorsystem 2701 may, for example, be held by a human operator, mounted on avehicle (remotely controllable or human operable), placed on a platform,or placed on the ground.

The processing system 2720 receives and processes the reflected signals,or data representative of the reflected signals from the sensor system2701. The processing system 2720 also may be configurable or programmedto control the sensor system 2701.

The processing system 2720 may be integrated into the sensor system 2701or the processing system 2720 may be remote from, and in communicationwith, the sensor system 2720. The example shown in FIG. 27 is animplementation in which the sensor system 2701 and the processing system2720 are separate from each other. For example, the sensor system 2701may be located in a dangerous area (such as a chemical plant or an areaunder observation for possible criminal activity) and the processingsystem may be remotely located in an area of safety. Thus, the sensorsystem 2701 may be placed in a dangerous location and operated remotely.

The sensor system 2701 includes a transceiver 2702, an antenna 2703, aprocessor 2704, an electronic storage 2706, an input/output interface2708, and a power module 2710. The transceiver 2702 generatestransmitted signals and processes received signals. The signals may betransmitted and received by the antenna 2703. The sensor system 2701also may include an inertial measurement unit 2712 to measure the motionof the sensor system 2701.

The transceiver 2702 may be coupled to any antenna that transmits andreceives radar signals as discussed above. The transceiver 2702 mayproduce radar signals at multiple discrete frequencies (such as 250different frequencies) and the transceiver 2702 processes receivedreflected signals at those frequencies. The sensor system 2701 alsoincludes a processor 2704, an electronic storage 2706, and aninput/output interface 2708. The electronic storage 2706 storesinstructions, perhaps as a computer program, that, when executed, causethe processor 2704 to communicate with other components in the sensorsystem 2701 and to execute analysis such as the processes discussed inFIGS. 13F, 15D, 20, and 24. In other examples, the processor 2704communicates with the input/output interface 2708 to cause datarepresentative of the signals received by the antenna 2703 and processedby the transceiver 2702 to be transferred to the processing system 2720for further processing and analysis.

The input/output interface 2708 provides an interface that allows dataand/or commands to be input to the sensor system 2701 and/or read fromthe sensor system 2701. The input/output interface 2708 may receive datafrom a tactile device such as a keyboard, a mouse, a communicationsport, or a display. The display may present data such as the data shownin FIGS. 26A-26D or FIG. 19. However, this is not necessarily the case.In some implementations, only the processing system 2720 visuallypresents data. The input/output interface 2708 also may include softwarethat allows communication between the sensor system 2701 and theprocessing system 2720 and/or between components of the sensor system2701. The input/output interface 2708 may be a network connection (suchas an Ethernet connection or a wireless communication interface) thatconnects the processing system 2720 and the sensor system 2701 such thatthe processing system 2720 may remotely communicate with and control thesensor system 2701.

The processing system 2720 includes a display 2722, a command module2724, and an input/output interface 2726. The input/output interface2726 receives and provides data to the sensor system 2701. Theinput/output interface 2726 also may receive and provide data to a humanoperator of the processing system 2720 or to an automated process. Thedisplay 2722 may visually present data such as that shown in FIGS. 19and 26A-26D to an operator of the processing system 2720.

The command module 2724 includes an electronic processor and anelectronic storage (not shown). In some implementations, the commandmodule 2724 generates commands to control the sensor system 2724. Forexample, the commands may result in the sensor system 2724 beingactivated or turned off or moving a platform or vehicle on which thesensor system 2701 is mounted or placed to a different location. Thus,the command module 2724 allows remote operation and control of thesensor system 2701. The command module 2724 may encrypt the commands toprotect the integrity of the operation of the sensor system 2701. Insome instances, the command module 2724 analyzes data from the sensorsystem 2701 (perhaps from the transceivers 2702) using processes such asthe processes discussed in FIGS. 13F, 15D, 20, and 24.

Although the techniques and concepts have generally been described inthe context of a handheld stepped-frequency scanning device and/orWPPDS, other implementations are contemplated, such as a vehicle-mountedstepped-frequency device or a stepped-frequency device mounted on afixed platform (such as a portal) through which persons pass. In someimplementations, the device may be used to detect objects that are madeof materials (such as metals, dielectric materials, and explosives) thatreflect radar signals and are hidden on the body of a person.

Other implementations are within the scope of the following claims. Forexample, in some implementations, the antennas 114, 226, 505A, 510A-530Aand/or the antenna 2703 may be adjustable conical spiral antennas thathave a beam width that varies depending on the compression of aconductive element of the antenna.

1. A method comprising: transmitting a stepped-frequency radar signalthrough a barrier, wherein a transmitter of the stepped-frequency radaris on a first side of the barrier, a first object is on a second side ofthe barrier, and a second object that is distinct from the first objectis on the second side of the barrier; sensing a signal comprisingreflections of the transmitted signal from the first object and from thesecond object, the reflections from the first and second objectsoverlapping such that the sensed signal appears to represent reflectionsfrom a single object; and analyzing the sensed signal to determine thatthe reflections represent at least one reflection from the first objectand at least one reflection from the distinct second object, and that afirst detection is associated with the first object and a seconddetection is associated with a second object.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the barrier comprises a wall of a building, and the first objectand the second object are in an interior of the building.
 3. The methodof claim 1, further comprising identifying the first detection and thesecond detection in the sensed signal.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinthe first detection associated with the first object comprises multipledetections, and the second detection associated with the second objectcomprises multiple detections.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising displaying the first detection and the second detection. 6.The method of claim 1, further comprising producing a visualrepresentation of the first detection and the second detection.
 7. Themethod of claim 4, wherein determining that the first detection isassociated with the first object and the second detection is associatedwith the second object comprises applying fuzzy c-means clustering tothe multiple detections of the first detection and the multipledetections of the second detection.
 8. The method of claim 1, whereinthe first detection comprises multiple detections and the seconddetection comprises multiple detections, and wherein determining thatthe first detection is associated with the first object and the seconddetection is associated with the second object comprises: determining,from the sensed signal, at least one parameter for each of the multipledetections of the first detection and the second detection, theparameter being one or more of a range value, a Doppler value, or anangle of arrival, comparing the determined parameter of one of themultiple detections to the determined parameter of another of themultiple detections, and determining that the one of the multipledetections and the other of the multiple detections are both associatedwith the first object based on the comparison.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein the stepped-frequency radar signal is transmitted through thebarrier at a first time, and further comprising: transmitting a secondstepped-frequency radar signal through the barrier at a second time;sensing a second signal comprising a second reflection of thetransmitted signal from the first object and a reflection of thetransmitted signal from the second object, wherein a position of atleast one of the first object or the second object relative to thetransmitter is different at the second time than at the first time; andanalyzing the second sensed signal to determine that a third detectionis associated with the first object and that a fourth detection isassociated with the second object.
 10. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising: determining, based on the first detection and the thirddetection, a first track that approximates the motion of the firstobject relative to the transmitter; and determining, based on the seconddetection and the fourth detection, a second track that approximates themotion of the second object relative to the transmitter.
 11. The methodof claim 10, further comprising: receiving a fifth detection; comparingat least one parameter of the fifth detection to at least one detectionassociated with the first track; and determining whether the fifthdetection is associated with the first track based on the comparison.12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: analyzing at least oneparameter of the fifth detection, prior to the comparison, to determinewhether the fifth detection is a candidate for association with thefirst track; and determining whether the fifth detection is associatedwith the first track only when the fifth detection is a candidate forassociation.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining whether thefifth detection is a candidate for association comprises determiningwhether the parameter of the fifth detection is within a preset range ofvalues.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the first object comprises aperson, and the motion of the person arises from a portion of the personmoving relative to the transmitter between the first time and the secondtime due to breathing of the person.
 15. The method of claim 11, whereinthe position of the first object relative to the transmitter isdifferent at the second time than at the first time due to one or moreof the motion of the first object from a first position within aninterior region defined by the barrier to a second position within theinterior region or motion of the transmitter.
 16. A method comprising:generating a representation of a space that comprises a barrier thatdefines an interior region and an object in the interior region, thegenerated representation being based on a known location and orientationof the barrier relative to the object; determining, using the generatedrepresentation, a modeled parameter that defines reflections by theobject of a radar signal that propagates through the barrier and intothe interior region and irradiates at least a portion of the barrier andat least a portion of the object; accessing a parameter of a candidatedetection of the object; comparing the modeled parameter that definesthe reflections by the object of the radar signal to the accessedparameter of the candidate detection; and classifying the candidatedetection as an actual detection or a false alarm based on thecomparison.
 17. The method of claim 16, further comprising presentingthe candidate detection only when the candidate detection is classifiedas an actual detection.
 18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:accessing a track that approximates a motion of an object; determiningthat the candidate detection is associated with the track; anddetermining that the candidate detection is an actual detection based onthe association.
 19. The method of claim 16, further comprisingpresenting the potential target only when the candidate detection isclassified as an actual target.
 20. The method of claim 16, wherein theparameter that defines the reflections of the radar signal issubstantially equal to the parameter of the candidate detection, and thecandidate detection is classified as a false alarm.
 21. The method ofclaim 19, wherein the parameter that defines the reflections of theradar signal comprises one or more of an angle of arrival of thereflection, a range of the reflection, and a Doppler of the reflection,and the parameter of the candidate detection comprises one or more of anangle of arrival of the candidate detection, a range of the candidatedetection, and a Doppler of the candidate detection.
 22. A devicecomprising: a transceiver configured to receive and transmit multipleradar signals, each radar signal associated with a frequency, through abarrier and into a region defined by the barrier; a processor coupled toan electronic storage, the electronic storage storing instructions that,when executed, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:sensing a signal comprising reflections of the transmitted signals froma first object in the region and from a second object in the region, thereflections from the first and second objects overlapping such that thesensed signal appears to represent reflections from a single object; andanalyzing the sensed signal to determine that the reflections representat least one reflection from the first object and at least onereflection from the distinct second object, and that a first detectionis associated with the first object and a second detection is associatedwith a second object.
 23. The device of claim 22, further comprising aninterface configured to provide the first detection and the seconddetection to a remote system.
 24. A system comprising: a sensor systemcomprising: a transceiver configured to receive and transmit multipleradar signals, each signal associated with a frequency through a barrierand into a region defined by the barrier; a processing system incommunication with the sensor system, the processing system comprising:a processor coupled to an electronic storage, the electronic storagestoring instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to performoperations comprising: sensing a signal comprising reflections of thetransmitted signals from a first object in the region and from a secondobject in the region, the reflections from the first and second objectsoverlapping such that the sensed signal appears to represent reflectionsfrom a single object; and analyzing the sensed signal to determine thatthe reflections represent at least one reflection from the first objectand at least one reflection from the distinct second object, and that afirst detection is associated with the first object and a seconddetection is associated with a second object; and a display configuredto visually present the first and second detections.
 25. A methodcomprising: transmitting a first stepped-frequency radar signal througha barrier, wherein a transmitter of the stepped-frequency radar is on afirst side of the barrier; sensing a first signal comprising areflection of the first transmitted signal from the object; analyzingthe first sensed signal to identify a first detection of the object;transmitting a second stepped-frequency radar signal through thebarrier; sensing a second signal comprising a reflection of the secondtransmitted signal from an object located on a second side of thebarrier; analyzing the second sensed signal to identify a seconddetection of the object; forming a track representative of a motion ofthe object through a region defined by the boundary based on the firstdetection and the second detection; transmitting a thirdstepped-frequency radar signal through the barrier; sensing a thirdsignal from the region; analyzing the third signal to identify acandidate detection; comparing a parameter of the candidate detection toa parameter of at least one of the first and second detections;determining, based on the comparison, whether the candidate detection isa false alarm or an actual detection; and if the candidate detection isa false alarm, presenting the first and second detections without thecandidate detection, and if the candidate detection is an actualdetection, presenting the first and second detections with the candidatedetection.